Undertones

An installation which thematizes the unique sound worlds of Berlin’s “Hinterhöfe.” Five loudspeakers have been mounted in chalkboard along the brick wall in the courtyard of the municipal gallery in Berlin’s city center. Typical courtyard sounds, such as that of a clothesline being pulled, trash bin lids slamming, glass shattering, and running water are processed and combined to create textures which flow up and down the five-channel array. Also included in the composition are recordings of sounds from the world outside that flood into this specific courtyard, such as the droning of airplanes, church bells, cars going by, and the referee whistle of a nearby soccer field. When these recurring external sounds and their recorded counterparts coincide, ambiguous moments between reality and fiction are created. In this sense, the piece is an exercise in psychogeography, blurring time and exponentially increasing the possible auditory experiences of the space.