Ströer supports digital Exhibition “Faces of St. Pauli” in Hamburg

As the Reeperbahn turns 400 this year, it has seen many distinctive faces come and go. Or, as Hamburg author Simone Buchholz aptly puts it: “St. Pauli is to blame for the way I look.” This sentence appears in the foreword to the photo book “Faces of St. Pauli” by neighborhood photographer Andreas Muhme.

By the end of the anniversary, he aims to immortalize 400 faces in his series. Since April 30, 100 selected portraits from this historical record have found a temporary home directly in and around St. Pauli on ten digital media displays by Ströer. Over the course of ten days, viewers will get to know the faces that define the neighborhood. These include well-known personalities as well as people from the art and bar scenes, those politically and socially engaged, and the marginalized.

The exhibition in public space shows each face both covered and uncovered, photographed in black and white using a ring flash. Muhme’s images contain no soft focus or retouching, because the neighborhood itself does without them.

“The Reeperbahn was and is incomparable,” states artist Andreas Muhme. “I hope it stays that way, even as times are constantly changing. My photos are meant to show how high the price would be if Hamburg were to lose the neighborhood, as multifaceted as it is.”

Ströer is giving the “Faces of St. Pauli” a stage in public spaces: “400 years of the Reeperbahn also mean 400 years of poster culture. Public spaces have always been used to draw attention to carnival performers, theater, music, and life itself. Today, this poster is going digital and opening up entirely new possibilities. Our digital out-of-home media symbolize this development and have long been perceived as information hubs. For the anniversary, we are happy to put them at the service of urban culture. With the ‘Faces of St. Pauli,’ we are making the history and faces of the neighborhood freely accessible to all Hamburg residents on our media,” says Alexander Stotz, CEO of Ströer Media Deutschland GmbH.

Picture Copyright: Andreas Muhme