Berlin Umbrella at Café Golgotha, Viktoriapark in Kreuzberg  © 
Sonja Heyer 
Date
Sunday 03 June 2018 to Sunday 17 June 2018

Experience poetry and the sound of the Spree in a unique setting

Berlin UMBRELLA is a poetry/sound 'aural walk' on the theme of water where participants listen to poetry and the sound of water recordings from a tiny loudspeaker within an umbrella whilst walking through the park. The 6 different sequences are inspired by the river Spree - geological and ecological, folklore and history. Ranging from glacial origins to cholera epidemics, 19th c water 'palaces' (pumping stations), Nazi atrocities and Cold War tragedies up to the fall of the Berlin wall and contemporary issues, the poems are interwoven with natural water sounds recorded at the exact spot in places mentioned in the poetry including the source of the river in the Lausatian mountains, the 'old wheezer' pump at Friedrichshagen 19th c Pumping Station and the river bank where Rosa Luxemburg's corpse surfaced.
The poems are a mixture of small, haiku-like images suggesting water-drops and more fluid, longer poems imitating a river's flow. Linear thought is interrupted with fragmentary images, connected, then disconnected, reforming, looping, unrolling like film intercut with flashbacks, like memory, past and present at the same time. Different sonic patterns, vibrations and rhythms also suggest light glinting on water or the flow of a river. The poetry is conceived as a sort of libretto melding with the sound patterns of recordings creating an immersive experience.
  • When: Sunday 3 June, 10 June, 17th June, 14-18 pm 
  • Where: Café Golgotha, Viktoriapark, Berlin-Kreuzberg
  • Entry: free entry, everybody welcome!
Berlin UMBRELLA is part of the UK/Germany affiliate programme and the UK/Germany 2018 season.

British Council website