ICC Berlin

Andreas Gehrke
ICC Berlin
32 pages / 16 images
15 × 19,5 cm
Edition of 800
Design: Marek Polewski

This collection of 16 postcards depicts the International Congress Centre Berlin (ICC Berlin), one of Europe’s largest and most renowned convention centers. Architects Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte designed and created its futuristic aluminum facade and high-tech architecture between 1973 and 1979. For decades the ICC hosted an array of events – including international conventions, cultural events, and media productions – with a capacity of around 14,500 seats in 80 halls and rooms. Artist Frank Oehring also crucially shaped the ICC’s identity with his color-coded orientation and information system and a monumental neon light sculpture in the ICC’s center atrium call the “Grosse Lichtplastik,” which symbolizes the “brain” or nerve center of the building.

Since 2014, the ICC has been closed, and a concept process for revitalization with a focus on innovation, culture, and the creative industries is currently underway. The building has been listed as a protected monument since 2019, and demolition is politically rejected. Investors have been invited to independently refurbish and operate the ICC under a new concept, with the ultimate aim of reopening the ICC as a publicly accessibly center for creativity and encounter. Andreas Gehrke captured the striking images on the postcards in this interim period – one in which the ICC finds itself in a liminal time and space.