Fotografien von Daniel Poller

For almost fifty years, propeller and jet aircraft took off and landed at the Otto Lilienthal Airport in Berlin-Tegel, which was inaugurated in 1974. When the last passenger plane landed in TXL in November 2020 and the airport was closed to air traffic, Daniel Poller was able to photograph crows, pigeons, starlings and cranes there a few days beforehand, which were to take over the runways for good a little later.

The result is the series "Birds of Tegel" (2022), which Galerie Poll is now presenting in the artist's second solo exhibition. At the same time, a publication with a text by the art historian and curator Andreas Prinzing will be published by Edizione Multicolore, the deluxe edition will contain a numbered copy.

The birds circle the tower, rest on the wings or cross the runway in swarms. They occupy the building and the associated infrastructure, show off their flying skills and appear as the new hosts while the human-organized flight operations are carried out.

A playful hanging in the gallery combines the various formats of the series, which is transformed into an airfield and landing field during the exhibition. The different motifs have one thing in common: the birds from Daniel Poller's series of images "Birds of Tegel" always recall the beginnings of aviation - their feathered wings served as a model for Otto Lilienthal, a pioneer of aviation and who gave the airport its name.

In his previous multi-part work "Final version of the draft resolution" (2020), Poller observed a black redstart fluttering through the ruins of the Institute for Teacher Education in Potsdam, which had become homeless as a result of the demolition work. The birds in "Birds of Tegel", on the other hand, take over the airport grounds. They take root after the architecture has lost its original function due to the cessation of air traffic.

A central theme in Daniel Poller's work is the reinterpretation of architecture in urban space and the overwriting and updating of history that can be seen in it. He is also interested in the coexistence of people and animals in the big city. The April issue of the magazine ARCH+ also addresses this topic of "cohabitation" and publishes a photo series by Poller.