“Sonnenstudio” is a staged photograph created in 2021 as a commissioned work for the Berlin-based electronic duo Modeselektor. Our photographic collaboration began as early as 2004 and has continued regularly ever since, including with their second band, Moderat.


Already in late 2020, I kept noticing a tanning salon in the Berlin district of
Reinickendorf. It was winter, night fell early, and the city lights flickered on. So did this place, which only revealed its full presence in the evening through a particular kind of “radiance.” Each time I passed it, Edward Hopper’s iconic painting Nighthawks came to mind.


The work is part of a series shot exclusively through the storefront windows of this very tanning salon. The series consists of several images showing the two
protagonists in various areas within the entrance space of the studio. This intentionally artificial-looking setting became the stage for a quiet encounter
between light and isolation. While the two protagonists are brightly illuminated inside,behind glass, the viewer remains outside—in darkness. This visual separation hints at the tension between public image and inner world, between intimacy and remoteness. One of the musicians has his head resting on the table, lost in thought, while the other looks directly at the viewer—almost confrontationally.


Photographed at dusk, the glowing sign “Sonnenstudio” takes center stage and lends the scene a nearly surreal intensity. The image plays with themes of solitude, observation, and the constructed nature of everyday life. It reflects the often contradictory way artists are perceived—visible yet distant, tangible yet elusive.