But history, neuroscience, and gentrification aside, a city can have an "emotional" döppelganger, as well. Whether it lives in the mind of one beholder or many, this poetic idea is more difficult to defend, much less articulate. Berlin Meets Los Angeles, currently on display at the Goethe Institut in Los Angeles, aims to do just that through a series of surprisingly juxtaposed photographs of its two title metropolises. Avoiding familiar views of either city, and instead peeking down their alleyways, around their corners, and up at their skies, this exhibition ties a loose thread around Berlin and LA. Suggestion, rather than logic, keeps that thread from unraveling. After all, these are not photos of Berlin's Karl-Marx-Allee — that 2km long monumental relic of the German Democratic Republic — alongside its likeness in Moscow. These are photos that make a case for the union of an aqua blue trailer home in Los Angeles and a wheelless, graffitied microbus in the back yard of Berlin's Tacheles — an "improvised" artist compound that has since been evicted from the grounds.
![Top: Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Tacheles, Berlin</em>. Above: Corina Gamma, <em>Maywood, Los Angeles</em> Top: Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Tacheles, Berlin</em>. Above: Corina Gamma, <em>Maywood, Los Angeles</em>](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/18/berlin-meets-los-angeles/big_404103_5960_02_CORINA_GAMMA_Maywood_LA1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Kreuzberg, Berlin</em> Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Kreuzberg, Berlin</em>](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/18/berlin-meets-los-angeles/big_404103_5584_03_ANDREA_WILMSEN_Kreuzberg_Berlin1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
Tight-lipped with subjective commentary, Gamma and Wilmsen both point the camera toward the inevitable chipping away of fantasy… by routine, life, the twenty-four hours in a day
![Corina Gamma, <em>Fair Oaks Ranch, Los Angeles</em> Corina Gamma, <em>Fair Oaks Ranch, Los Angeles</em>](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/18/berlin-meets-los-angeles/big_404103_9703_04_CORINA_GAMMA_FairOaksRanch_LA1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Alexanderplatz, Berlin</em> Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Alexanderplatz, Berlin</em>](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/18/berlin-meets-los-angeles/big_404103_5974_05_ANDREA_WILMSEN_AlexanderPlatz1_Berlin1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Corina Gamma, <em>City Of Commerce, Los Angeles</em> Corina Gamma, <em>City Of Commerce, Los Angeles</em>](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/18/berlin-meets-los-angeles/big_404103_8612_06_CORINA_GAMMA_CityOfCommerce1_LA1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
Berlin meets Los Angeles: 2 cities in the mirror of 2 photographers
Goethe Institut
5750 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles
![Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Walls, Berlin</em> Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Walls, Berlin</em>](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/18/berlin-meets-los-angeles/big_404103_7858_07_ANDREA_WILMSEN_Walls2_Berlin1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Corina Gamma, <em>Downtown Loft Garden, Los Angeles</em> Corina Gamma, <em>Downtown Loft Garden, Los Angeles</em>](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/18/berlin-meets-los-angeles/big_404103_1404_08_CORINA_GAMMA_DowntownLoftGarden_LA1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Holocaust Memorial, Berlin</em> Andrea Wilmsen, <em>Holocaust Memorial, Berlin</em>](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/18/berlin-meets-los-angeles/big_404103_6425_09_ANDREA_WILMSEN_Holocaust_Memorial1of3_Berlin1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Corina Gamma, <em>Cypress Park, Los Angeles</em> Corina Gamma, <em>Cypress Park, Los Angeles</em>](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/18/berlin-meets-los-angeles/big_404103_9484_10_CORINA_GAMMA_CypressPark_LA1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)