An audio tour as part of the Philosophen Weg (philosopher’s path) around the mountain in the Palast der Republik in Berlin. Der Berg (the mountain) was the last artistic project before the building is demolished.
In a city as flat as Berlin it is hard to get perspective on things, to step back and get the bigger picture, let your eyes gaze at a distant horizon. Lacking mountains or sea, even the slightest of hills becomes a viewing point. Berliners, conscious of this need, find other ways to fulfil it. Climbing walls like artificial mountains, proliferate in parks, artificial hills like the Teufelsberg are erected and towers (the Fernsehturm, Funkturm and Siegesaule) are built to provide opportunities to look at the city from a distance.
For ‘Postcards from the Edge’, we set ourselves the task of travelling to these ‘mountains’ around Berlin wherein we recorded our stream of consciousness, trying to see round trees back to the Palast der Republik, back to the listener walking around this soon to be demolished landmark of East Germany.
Our first linear audio guide (see Stimmen über Berlin for example of non-linear audio work), lead the listener around the edge of the Palast der Republik, affording both views of the centre of Berlin and of the listener themselves reflected in the bronze mirrored glass of the building.
Once issued with portable CD discmans, the listeners were taken on a 15-minute journey with opportunities to sit and take in the view. Postcards from the Edge was offered for two people to experience at once, in a choice of English or German.