Everyday Life and Furor in the FRG
The charity photo exhibition features photographs taken by amateur photographer Heinz Staab between the 1960s and 1990s.

The benefit exhibition Heinz Staab – Living Archive is the result of a story of chance and circumstance. Staab, born in 1935, was a trained master printer and worked at the Federal Printing Office until his retirement in 1999. In addition to his profession, he had a great passion: photography. He was one of many amateur photographers who spent time at airfields and folk festivals with their cameras from the 1960s to the 1990s, meeting up with like-minded “snappers” and amateurs in clubs and at regulars’ tables to share what they had captured on film.

Staab’s dementia led to his collection of cameras and photographic equipment, as well as all his negatives, being passed on to his daughter. With the support of analogueNOW! in managing the estate, the idea for an exhibition was born. The goal of the exhibition is to raise funds for the Alzheimer Gesellschaft Berlin e.V. through donations and the sale of the photographs. The Alzheimer Gesellschaft Berlin has been supporting those affected by Alzheimer’s disease and their families for over 30 years, providing information, advice, and self-help projects. In collaboration with darkroom expert Jochen Rohner, individual photographs will be re-exposed by hand. Together with vintage prints by Staab himself, an exhibition will be curated that offers a fresh, contemporary perspective on the private archive.

Heinz Staab’s photographs capture everyday scenes and subjects that, due to the passage of time, no longer feel like part of daily life. The photographs occupy a space between private photography, family albums, and street photography. They offer a deeply personal glimpse of Berlin—a visual memory of Heinz Staab.

The charity exhibition will take place as part of 48H Neukölln.