"If there's a pipe, something is changing in the city"

It doesn't take much to notice the pastel pink, blue, and purple pipes snaking around the city. Against the endless grayscale of buildings and concrete and clothing, these pipes are a playful contradiction: their omnipresence within Berlin also represents the city's constant state of change.

Berlin is built on a swamp – so when new construction in the city is imminent, the marshy underground needs to be drained in order to avoid flooding at the site. The solution? Pipes. Pink and pretty and sprawling, but first and foremost, a way to pump this water and direct it to the Spree and other canals. A company called Pollems has been building Berlin's pipe system for more than a century. According to managing director Bernd Kempf, Pollems consulted with a psychologist about what colour to paint the pipes, and she'd suggested pink and purple because those were preferred by children.

Photographer Emilio Girardin Daudet has been fascinated with these pipes since 2017. Now he's working on a photo series, titled Undercurrents, that features them in all their shapes and hidden spots across the city. We spoke to Daudet about the project, how he plans his shoots, and what the pipes mean to Berliners.

HEIST: How did you get started photographing the pipes?

Emilio Girardin Daudet: Out of curiosity. When I first arrived in Berlin in 2017, I thought that the pipes were part of some art installation around the city. I thought they looked odd and could be an interesting photography subject, but never really executed the idea until last year, during a long creative block where I decided I just had to go out and take pictures no matter what. The pipes were there, always available, all over the city. The first ones I shot for this project were the pink ones near Jannowitzbrücke.