The Berin Tours series was a collaborative project produced with Kerry Phillips (Miami, FL) during the summer of 2009 in Berlin, Germany. The documentary “tours”; home tours as well as walking tours of the city, were performed as a collaborative team with the intent of getting to know the city through its public and private spaces while questioning ideas of perception.

The home tours began by visiting flats of Berlin volunteers to document the people through an examination of their objects and belongings. These “portraits” of strangers were created with 8mm films and photographs taken throughout the homes, resulting in dual screen videos where the film version of walking through the home is presented along side of a slide show of detail photographs.

The walking tours of the city were performed and documented photographically to explore issues of differences in perception by each of us while following the same mapped path- we walked each route separately and on different days. The six tours were found in a found tourist book entitled “Berlin; Day by Day." Berlin’s Best Neighborhood Walks are self guided trips intended to provide the tourist with an insiders view of landmarks and districts of historical interest. The outcome of these walking tours is presented as videos showing each of our photos side by side for the viewer to experience both of our walks simultaneously. The audio component to these videos is the accompanied text provided with the maps read aloud by both of us. Digital collages were also developed from the photographs of the walking tours, resulting in a series of drawings.

Combined, the intent of the project is to question and examine the experience of the “tourist” in both public and private spaces.