Halten brings together eleven photographic portrait series created during a weekend seminar at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie under the direction of photographer Ina Schoenenburg.

In urban everyday life, at the thresholds between life and death, through encounters, and in moments of struggle and joy, the photographers turn their focus to experiences that sustain, move or challenge us. They pause to make the fleeting visible – that which often only reveals itself upon closer inspection. The exhibition showcases what they discovered in these moments.

With works by Johanna Bürger, Xiao Chen, Sarah Krawczak, Sofia Kröplin, Kira Müller, Olivia Nikel, Sandra Prengel, Verena Schottenloher, Jessica Soto, Andrea Sydow, Oliver Wagner.

Johanna Bürger | Timeless Travel I – The Curtains

“your lung looks like a starry sky,” the doctor said after the ct scan. “we can’t explain it.” am i going to heaven now? straight away, so to speak? or what’s going on here?

From Cero’s blog “Zeitloses Reisen” (“Timeless Travel”), May 18, 25

12 months passed between Cero’s lung cancer diagnosis and her death. We laughed, cried, took photos, and filmed. Through conversations between Cero, me, friends, and her family, the idea for an exhibition trilogy emerged: The Curtains. The Narrative. The Dialogue.

This is the first part: The Curtains.

“The other Cero is in the spaces in between, between the curtains. Life consists of plans—and that sense of direction is gone. (…) The thought that it could all be over at any moment is always there. It’s as if I’m seeing something that others don’t see.”

Cero in conversation with Johanna, June 4, 2025

Website: johannabuerger.com | Instagram: @johanna.buerger

Xiao Chen | Being There

Two years ago, Xiao Chen moved from Berlin to a small town in east Germany. At first, he knew the East only through media reports and second-hand accounts. What he encountered instead were people with stories of their own. Fleeting encounters became conversations, and conversations became trust. The photographs and texts of those portrayed present a generation that is often spoken about, yet rarely gets to speak for itself—an invitation to look more closely and to encounter one another.

Instagram: @cphalee

Sarah Krawczak | Gdyby / Hätte

My parents came to Germany before I was born. When I stay at my mother’s, I sit on the kitchen counter first thing in the morning. She sits in her rocking chair and drinks her coffee through a straw. We listen to Deutschlandfunk Kultur.
When my mother talks to my aunt in Poland on the phone, they talk a lot about the past. I like listening. Sometimes we talk every day. Sometimes not for weeks.
When we see each other, our eyes often start to close. We say we’re tired, but we don’t go to sleep. I didn’t like it when my mother used to photograph me. Today, I photograph her. And my father. He tells me it reminds him of acting in theatre when he was at university. My mother shows me her school in Stalowa Wola. “When I left this place, I felt like the world was open to me.”
I nod and want to understand. These portraits are my attempt.

Instagram: @sarahkrawczak

Sofia Kröplin | The Fight We Never Asked For

I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 29. I won the fight. During my journey, I met so many people affected by cancer and almost everyone around me knew someone who has or had it. My own experience showed me how little people know about daily life with cancer and how different people are, who go through it. 3 years later, after I got a second chance, I want to share the stories of others who have lived through the disease.
“The Fight We Never Asked For” is my message to anyone living with cancer: you are not alone. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 20 million people were diagnosed with cancer worldwide in 2022, and almost 10 million people lost their lives that same year. Each portrait tells the story of an unwanted fate and the heroes behind.

Instagram: @sofiakroeplin

Kira Müller | Where you begin, where I end.

We do not begin our lives in isolation, but intertwined with another. Every life originates through the body of a mother. For many, this physical connection continues after birth. Breastfeeding is intimate, and demanding. One’s own body becomes nourishment, the arm an anchor, and the boundaries between two people blur.

This series portrays mothers and children in deep closeness, honoring the physical strength to give life, to nourish and to hold.

Website: arikira.de | Instagram: @circusstory

Olivia Nikel | 2,450 Meters of Asphalt – A Portrait of Potsdamer Straße

Potsdamer Straße tells the story of Berlin – loud and quiet, glamorous and gritty, familiar and ever-changing. Along the 2,450 meters between Potsdamer Platz and Kleistpark, stark contrasts collide: long-standing institutions and modern art galleries, kebab shops and Michelin-starred restaurants, high-end boutiques and street prostitution.
In my series, I portray the people who shape this space – those who live, work, shop, cook, skate, heal, box, pray, or engage in sex work. Their faces and gestures, the reflections in shop windows, and glimpses behind the facades form a multifaceted portrait of this street.
My deep fascination with this place is reflected in the fact that I am now presenting the second part of my work on Potsdamer Straße – knowing that this story is far from over.

Website: olivianikel.com | Instagram: olivia_nikel_photography1

Sandra Prengel | Between us

What does the relationship between a person and their animal reveal – about both?
For this series, I photograph people and animals in their shared spaces – dogs and cats, falcons, snakes, chickens – searching for the subtle signs of closeness revealed in a glance, a gesture, a quiet familiarity. The photographs move between staging and observation, pursuing two questions: what does an animal mean to a person – and what does a person mean to their animal?

Website: sandraprengel.com | Instagram: @sandraprengel

Verena Schottenloher | For a Moment

Pause for a moment. Hold your breath for a moment. Just be with yourself for a moment.

This series is an invitation to stop for a brief second. The images speak of quiet and vibrant moments. Of ease, closeness, and stillness. Of things that so easily pass us by in everyday life.

They capture my personal moments of happiness, and perhaps also those that many of us share. So please, feel free to stop for a moment. For a moment where everything feels just right.

Instagram: @anereverena

Jessica Soto | REFUGIO

Germany, a country where churches are emptying and faith seems to be nothing more than an echo, reserved for older generations.

When I arrived in Germany, I assumed atheism was the default for young people. Refugio emerged from a break with that certainty: from the astonishment of discovering a Generation Z that, contrary to all expectations and amid the noise, draws strength from an intimate conviction.

With my camera, I wasn’t looking for staged religious scenes, but for young people who reflect, who pause, who seek an anchor. Faith becomes an act of self-assertion; a way of saying: I feel, I resist, I trust.

Website: jsksoto.de

Andrea Sydow | At my Table

The German-Brasilian photographer portrays her friends from all over the world who feel at home at her table.
‘¿Un café?’ – more than a question, it’s an invitation to come in, sit down and share what’s on their mind. On weekends, they bring their favourite dishes, set the long table and stay for hours. Cutlery clatters, glasses clink, and in German, English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, they chat, debate and philosophise – late into the night. For a moment, homesickness fades. They came to Berlin from different cities – and found where they belong.

Website: sydow-coaching.com

Oliver Wagner | Fahrbahnbegleitgrün

Since 2019, Fahrbahnbegleitgrün has been taking shape as a project exploring Berlin’s urban landscape and the people who move through it.

Website: olliknipst.myportfolio.com | Instagram: @oliver_wagner_030

Thursday, Sep 24, 2026, 7 pm
Opening Reception

Following Opening Reception at 7:30 pm at Studio 1:
Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie × Kunstquartier Bethanien | Glück – Seminar Anne Schwalbe