Exhibition tip: Sam Youkilis tells of the poetry too fleeting everyday moments in the C/O Berlin

DemIf a very special magic lives: Even the most banal everyday moments suddenly seem like scenes from a film: a fluttering laundry in a narrow alley; a sun -tanned hand that includes an espresso cup; The shimmer of the sea in the afternoon heat. Everything seems more intense, as if someone had turned up the saturation and slowed down time. Unfortunately, this special aura, which lets us be amazed away from the routine, rarely continues for a long time - unless you look at the world through the lens from Sam Youkilis.

In his exhibition "Under the Sun" in the C/O Berlin, the photographer captures exactly these fleeting but universal moments. People on the beach, random encounters on the street, the play of light and shadow in Mediterranean landscapes - an invitation to look at the world with fresh eyes. Without any plane ticket, but with the same inexhaustible curiosity.

Sam Youkilis has done what many dream of: he not only captures moments with his camera, but he succeeds in transforming the apparently ordinary into poetry. Born in New York in 1993, he studied photography at Bard College, where he learned from the icon Stephen Shore, among other things, an impressive school of seeing that is still reflected in his work. But instead of pulling through the world with a heavy analog camera, his iPhone is usually enough for him. With short videos and pictures that radiate an almost meditative calm, he documents life on Instagram in all its facets - from sunbathing ends on the amalfi coast to steaming espresso cups in Italian marketplaces. He mostly captures his distinctive mix of nostalgia, timelessness and cinematic perfection on professional trips, after all, the photographer for labels is likeAnd Jacquemus regularly traveled in half the world.

A handpicked selection of these snapshots now shows its first large institutional exhibition "Under the Sun" in the C/O Berlin. Presented in the classic Instagram stories format, visitors can immerse themselves in a whimpering image world that looks like a visual diary-sometimes melancholy, sometimes cheerful, always deeply human.

Like no other, Sam Youkilis knows how to create atmosphere without staging them. The type of visual representation that the curator has succeeded in close cooperation with the artist also lets the digital in a playful merger on oversized screens and makes the exhibition a real pleasure. It is the quiet stories of life that take up space here; Scenes that you know and has already felt that seems wonderfully relentless through the lens of Youkilis and celebrate a strong Instagram aesthetics, which now also conquers the C/O Berlin.

"Under the Sun" is a tribute to life, an attentive look and an open heart. If you don't go home with a newly discovered fascination for everyday, you probably didn't look properly.

"Under the Sun" by Sam Youkilis can be seen in the C/O Berlin until May 7, 2025.