Radiant celestial domes, paradisiacal scenes and uncanny corridors awaits in Anne Lass’s new book Triple Seven, a documentation of Berlin gambling halls playing with elements from distant galaxies, exotic islands and futuristic sceneries. The Berlin gambling halls documented in Triple Seven from 2011 to 2014 serve as poignant artifacts of a bygone era.
The project mirrors a time marked by shifting societal landscapes and profound regulatory changes. With over 80 percent of the small casinos disappearing between 2011 and 2020 due to strict regulations, these places are a testament to a different time. Anne Lass has preserved the allure of these establishments, encapsulating the essence of their interiors and the emotions they once stirred. Seemingly isolated from the outside world, the dim “back rooms” absorb our gaze: we cannot get enough of the myriad materials and the sometimes difficult-to-decipher details that these spaces reveal. Intense colours and reflective surfaces dominate the stringent compositions of the pictures, allowing the interiors, decorated with idiosyncratic furniture, to alternate between sets from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. – From the opening essay by Nela Eggenberger.
