Triple Seven [Signed]

Faux leather bound hardback with tip-in and embossed text
28 × 27 cm
108 pages
52 colour plates

Essay by Nela Eggenberger
Language: German and English
Edition of 700

Printed in Denmark by Narayana Press
Published 9 November 2023

One cannot thank Anne Lass enough for preserving these wonderful worlds of postmodern madness in such unique images for posterity.
— Nela Eggenberger

I think it is one of the year’s finest titles. Highly Recommended!
— Brad Feuerhelm

Leather sofas and fitted carpets, radiant shapes and dark corridors. Disko Bay is thrilled to present Anne Lass’s new colourful book Triple Seven, an immersive documentation of Berlin’s disappearing gambling dens, in a narrative that plays with elements from distant galaxies, exotic islands and futuristic landscapes.

Red, violet and blue colours permeate the images, but there’s more at play than just form and colour. The Danish-German photographer lived in Berlin from 2007 to 2014, where she was fascinated by the many gambling halls in the Berlin cityscape, most of which were located in poorer neighbourhoods.

Lass visited over 100 of Berlin’s approximately 500 small casinos and went on a photographic exploration of these often closed and private environments. Here, she documented old machines, gaming tables and the people who frequented them. Not to condemn, but to try to understand and take the players’ desires seriously: the hope for a better life and the longing for a bit of happiness.

After new legislation came into effect a few years ago, many of the gaming establishments had to close, and over 80% of them have already disappeared, including many of those depicted in this work.

The project sheds light on a phenomenon that extends beyond the borders of Berlin — humanity’s eternal pursuit of (financial) happiness. At the same time, it is a visual investigation of the signs, symbols and objects deliberately used to seduce. It is a photographic record of districts undergoing change due to crises and gentrification, and a documentation of places that have not been extensively explored until now.

Anne Lass (b. 1978) is an acclaimed Danish-German photographer living and working on the island of Bornholm. Her richly descriptive, medium-format colour photographs present an eclectic mix of places, objects and individuals rooted in a quiet still-life tradition, merging documentary form and poetic tenderness.

Lass holds a diploma in Documentary Photography from Folkwang Hochschule der Künste and has had multiple solo and group exhibitions in Europe and the USA. Her works are included in the collections of Museum of Avantgarde, Danish Arts Foundation and C/O Berlin.