Anton Corbijn

“Anton Corbijn is the fifth member of the band, who plays an inaudible instrument.” Wim Wenders

For 22 years, Anton Corbijn has been accompanying the Irish rock band U2 with his own instrument: a camera. He has decisively shaped their image, matching their musical development; he has given these four musicians an unmistakeable visual language and an independent visual existence. Today, the public image of U2 is inseparably bound up with his aesthetics. Anton Corbijn’s photos are more than just portraits of musicians; they are icons of pop. Anton Corbijn is regarded as one of the most internationally influential, and most frequently imitated, portrait photographers currently active. His quiet and dry, yet highly intimate and personal pictures of stars from the art world, literature, film, fashion and - especially – music have reshaped the aesthetics of photography. Whether his subject is Depeche Mode, Miles Davis, Herbert Grönemeyer, REM or U2, Anton Corbijn creates a magic intimacy in which he shows pop idols in the borderline area between their star image and their personal vulnerability.

To coincide with U2’s Berlin concert in July 2005, Anton Corbijn has created an exclusive exhibition for C/O Berlin documenting the unique, almost symbiotic cooperation and friendship between the photographer and the band.