Right through Berlin: The A100

Like so much in Berlin, Bundesautobahn 100 is a special case: it runs in a south-west arc right through former West Berlin. Planned as a ring motorway in the 1950s, the ring was never closed, also as a consequence of German division. All the more contested is the resumed attempt to close it step by step in an ever tighter city.

Ideas for dealing with this relic of the car-oriented city range from fundamental protest (“Stop the A100”) to covering it (“Deckel drauf”) to turning the unfinished trough of the 16th construction section into a vegetable farm (“Paper Plans”).

The photographs approach the phenomenon of Berlin’s city motorway through residents affected by noise and fumes, activists, and the motorway’s own aesthetic.