Sonos Song Stories: Bowie In Berlin photographic display of rarely seen images
//Large renditions of photographs from the 1977 session in Tokyo with Masayoshi Sukita for the “Heroes” sleeve. Photo courtesy Sonos//
To mark the opening earlier this month of the new Sonos store in Berlin – the home leisure company’s first retail presence in continental Europe – I was invited to organise a display of photography relevant to David Bowie’s creative connections to the city.
//Christian Simonpietri‘s photograph from the set of the 1980 movie Just a Gigolo is to the left of Denis O’Regan’s portrait taken at the Kempinski Hotel during the Serious Moonlight tour, 1983. Photo courtesy Sonos//
My choice turns on a selection of rarely-seen images from Bowie’s Berlin sojourns between 1976 and 1979, as well as his later visits for performances. For the main image, we choose an outtake from the April 1977 session with Masayoshi Sukita in Harajuku which resulted in the cover of that year’s era-defining LP “Heroes”.
//On the far left is a Christian Simonpietri photo of Bowie in his Berlin apartment with his Mishima portrait, 1979. Photo courtesy Sonos//
I was very pleased to include photographs by Christian Simonpietri, particularly candid shots from the making of David Hemmings-directed movie Just A Gigolo and a portrait of Bowie in his Schöneberg apartment lying underneath his own painting of Japanese author and poet Yukio Mishima.
//Exterior of the new store in Berlin. Photo courtesy Sonos//
Sonos Berlin is at Oranienburger Str. 83, 10117 Berlin, Germany