José Giribás Marambio
"Times of Change"
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Exhibition: 5 September – 4 October, 2019

The exhibition brings together images taken before and after the fall of the Wall. These are black-and-white photographs of the two parts of Berlin before, during and after the events of 1989, which irrevocably changed the political geography of Berlin and Germany and the geopolitical balance of the Cold War period. The exhibition is complemented by a number of color photographs showing the Wall and some of the events that have shaped Berlin's history.

José Giribás Marambio was born in Santiago de Chile in 1948. After the military coup of Pinochet in 1973 he left his homeland as a refugee of the United Nations and went into exile to Argentina. In 1974, he travelled to Berlin on a scholarship from Freie Universität. After training as a photo technician and 12 years working in a large laboratory, Giribás began to work as a freelance photojournalist. During the Pinochet dictatorship he travelled several times to Chile for reporting. Since 2003 he collaborates with the German news agency Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo.

Giribás sees himself as a documentary photographer. His personal passion and the favorable circumstances of being able to move relatively freely in a divided Berlin makes his exhibition one of the most complete documentaries of the historical events of 1989/1990 by a single photographer.

José Giribás Marambio has been living in West Berlin since 1974. However, his experiences in his native Chile brought him closer to the life in the GDR. Over the years, he began to work sporadically with the GDR news agency (ADN). However, according to him, "it was a constant struggle to get useful pictures". For example, he was admitted to the legendary Bruce Springsteen concert in Weißensee, but at every step he was accompanied by a Stasi oficial, who prevented him from photographing the thousands of visitors at close range.

In the autumn of 1989, Giribás felt the atmosphere of the impending change and never missed an opportunity to go to the streets of East Berlin. He also photographed the events of the collapsing regime, such as the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the GDR or the official press conferences that conveyed the growing tension, including the significant press conference at which Günter Schabowski confusedly announced the opening of the border. As most people, Giribás understood the historical significance of this moment only later.