Kudamm - Lockdown

“The deserted streets of a giant city - usually vibrant city centers that now look like ghost towns,... gives us an idea of ​​what a non-consumistic world could look like.” (Slavoj Žižek, Pandemic! Covid-19 Shakes The World)

The Berliner Ku'damm is one of the most famous boulevards in the world and used to be a symbol of the „Wirtschaftswunder“ and a „Showcase of the West“.

This broad 3,5km long boulevard Ku'damm, or Kurfürstendamm as it is called officially, was always considered to be the Champs-Élysées of Berlin - lined with luxury boutiques, posh car manufacturers' show rooms, hotels and restaurants. After German reunification the heydays and glamour of this exclusive “Flaniermeile” or promenade in the City-West vanished and felt into a “Dornröschenschlaf”, like a Sleeping Beauty. Only in recent years the Ku’damm area and its extension the Tauentzienstrasse experienced a renaissance.

Now, in the troubling times of the Corona-Crisis the Ku'damm is under serious threat. The sidewalks are deserted and most of the shops are curtained off, all restaurants and hotels are closed.