Teufelsberg in the Arts
The Black Dog Gallery in London
is hosting an exhibition from 10 March to 09 June 2009 featuring the works of German photographer Rut Blees Luxemburg, as a part of the celebration of the release of her new book: Commonsensual: The Works of Rut Blees Luxemburg. The article in BD on-line, The Architects' WebSite, hints at the Save Teufelsberg! Campaign, mentioning that the Field Station Berlin facilities have been "proposed as the location for a spy museum." (That was our proposal.)
Luxemburg's photos include some from inside the radomes on Teufelsberg, says the BD article. She "has expressed a particular interest in 'revealing moments where history appears in dense yet coded layers', and the book groups images drawn from different past series into chapters which suggest overlapping narratives. For instance, The Pattern of the Plans juxtaposes the Teufelberg pictures with one of Rayners Lane in Harrow from the series shown at Heathrow."
"The book was provided with a commentary by creative writer Douglas Park, but there is no mention of the story of Teufelsberg, leaving its tale an elusive one for those not in the know," continues the BD article. Her photos are devoid of people, and the lack of commentary takes "people outside themselves into a world that is non-representational", says Richard Sennett.
About the artist: Rut Blees Luxemburg is a German photographer who studied photography at London College of Communication. Her technique is characterized by night photos of depopulated urban landscapes, using available light.
The Tate in Liverpool characterizes the uniting theme of Luxemburg's work as "her desire to make visible that which often goes unnoticed. By seeking out hidden spaces, and overlooked, abandoned or even threatening areas of otherwise familiar cities, Luxemburg presents the viewer with a key to understanding the particular nature of the urban environment."
Read the Wikipedia article at:
Read the Tate article at:
See one of her Teufelsberg pictures at:
Book at amazon only $34.65 (pre-order):
Fantomton Performs "Radar Station"
On 28 March 2009, at Freifeld, a free space for electronic arts in Edelweiss, Berlin,
Fantomton performed its latest release, "Radar Station". Fantomton is a collaboration of musical people who enjoy the live exchange of music and experimental ideas.
The CD consists of cuts recorded by various artists at the radar station located on Teufelsberg in Berlin. "The location is wonderful: the panorama of Berlin is awesome, the building simply charming. We spent hours through the building, making photos, recording samples of any kind, hanging around and having fun," says Fantomton on their website.
Each of the artists interpreted the material in their own manner, while still retaining an overarching ambience. On the concluding track, Beatstorm performed a vjset with some images of Teufelsberg.
Check out the samples of all the music on the new "Radar Station" CD at
TM Solver makes sweet Teufelsberg Music
Thomas Meier, also known as TM Solver, from Berlin, has recorded an album of music inspired by Field Station Berlin. We call it Music of the Spheres. Thomas calls it, "Tranquilizer!"
The cut lines for the album say:
"Tranquilizer is the debut album of Thomas Meier aka TM Solver from Berlin. The music is inspired by the US NSA Field Station Berlin-Teufelsberg."
You can learn more about the album and listen to samples of the electronic instrumental music on the album's webpage:
There are some interesting photos of recording artist Thomas Meier performing at the Teufelsberg radomes available on his MySpace webpage:
Amnesia's Landscape
is a performance plus docudrama in forgotten places by a group known as YUME NO ATO.
One of the features in Amnesia's Landscape is the Field Station Berlin Facility on Teufelsberg.
The cut line for the project is "The fading of Memory turns always into a new story. The piece AMNESIA'S LANDSCAPE by YUME NO ATO is inspired by a fragmented remembrance within Space, Architecture, Literature."
You can see a ten minute video on their webSite at
The inside of a radome at Teufelsberg has a five minute visit on the video.
There is also a PDF about the project available for download on that same page.
The PDF has a link to the FSBVG webSite.
The write-up in the PDF offers a more lucid explanation of the goals of the group:
Since 2004, YUME NO ATO is dedicated to enacting a dialogue with certain places that lost a former identity or intent. YUME NO ATO uses http://www.VIMUDEAP.de as a research base. That is The Virtual Museum of Dead Places, a website designed by students of Berlin's Technical University (FHTW). These places tell much and hide a lot. Some wander, others wait. During our fieldwork, all the fragments that have exited their original story -- the single dots on the map, the words, the shapes, the movement, the sound -- enter a single playground: AMNESIA'S LANDSCAPE. It is a spiritual research about the omnipresence of death in life or a poetry of entropy (slightly edited from the original for readability).
In addition to the film above, the group made a number of music recordings in building 1425 (the Arctic Tower) and building 1455 (the British building) at Field Station Berlin on Teufelsberg in the summer of 2004, which they presented at the Mittwochsclub in Berlin.
AMNESIA'S LANDSCAPE webpage concludes with a quote from Heiner Müller (1929-1995), who, before the collapse of the GDR, was widely regarded as "the most important German dramatist since Brecht". Müller said: "The landscape outlives the individual. Meanwhile it is waiting for mankind to disappear, who is ravaging regardless of his own future as a species." (Their translation, and I couldn't find the original.)
FSBVG comment: YUME NO ATO's approach to Teufelsberg is much the same as Rut Blees Luxemburg's of "seeking out hidden spaces, and overlooked, abandoned or even threatening areas of otherwise familiar cities."
Music recording in the radomes seems to be well appreciated for their unusual acoustics. It would be a shame for this recording venue to disappear because of the Berlin Senate's apparent policy of "ignore it and it will go away." If they continue this policy, it is the equivalent of "demolition by neglect."
