Sleek

Sleek #15 Summer 2007 Before|After

Before WWI. After the Kaiser. Before the Weimar Republic. After Kristallnacht. Before the end of WWII. After Hitler. Be-fore the Wall. After the Wall… While every city has its turning points, distinct moments in time and history before which or after which everything changes, Berlin is arguably the most dynamic and radical of the world’s shape and social shifters. One doesn’t have to dig down through layers of archaeological ruin to discover Berlin’s past, present and future, you just walk from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, street to street, building to building. Berlin: a city on the constant cusp of now, a city that both cherishes and destroys what came before as rapidly as it creates what comes after.

sleek, with a pregnant dichotomy at its core; fashion and art, themes of opposites divided by a line, a stroke – the cusp – found its perfect adoptive home in this city. We built the magazine on a somewhat schizophrenic concept – attempting to capture both the razor’s edge of our zeitgeist while striving to create something a bit less ephemeral in the world of glossies.

Before | After is our 15th publication in what’s been four stressed out, argumentative, crisis laden, but ultimately deeply satisfying years spurred on by our extraordinary contributors and loyal readers who have followed us on our erratic journey so far.

So, while Berlin and now is where we live, what fascinates us – keeps us manic/depressively moving toward the future – is what comes after…