Berlin Bruits

Here on the third floor in Schönhauser Allee there is a kind of periodic rumble that is maybe the underground, or is it the tram on Torstraße. We are on the 3rd floor but you feel it uniformly vibrate the building, however compared to the endless upper spectrum assaults of Paris it is pleasantly comforting.

There are sparrows in the snow in the park being feed little balls of seed.

There are the occasional dogs — a German Shepherd at the U Bahn – barking at a group of young men with high energy.

Over at Potsdamer Platz there is impatient, no, outraged horn honking, and a conceptual though sonically disappointing use of GPS sound walk technology.

There is the push and pull of heavy doors — the wash of wind through trees — a distant bell.

Today, as I finished talking to S, the Zionskirche bell starts to ring and continues for over 5 minutes — an elongated call to something,  or a testing I don’t know. But when it stops my ears are awake to everything — the squeak of bike tires — the ding of a bell caused by a bump — the small yap of a dog — the wheels of a shopping cart — the hammering at a distant worksite. Is this the hidden purpose, or maybe just it’s just a side affect: not only a time-telling and call to attention — bu a moment of masking so that when it stops reveals the every day anew.