Day 21: Berlin Rain

The Sunday bells rang out across Nuekolln this morning with uneven clangs and dissonance. I fell out of bed in the hope that I could get a recording down only for them to fade out as I got the microphone connected. The rain which had started to spray Berlin yesterday afternoon was still falling. Lauren and I rugged up with several layers including gloves (gloves!? when was the last time I ever wore gloves!?) and ventured outside.

We headed into a contemporary arts district along Linden Strasse finding many enticing galleries which were not open being a Sunday, but found a couple that covered a variety of sculpture, photo media and a bit of sound art. After stopping by a Jewish deli for caffeinated refreshment, we fought the drizzle on foot towards Hansa for an exhibition of notation at the Institut Des Kunst.

The exhibition was startling in its scale. By the time we'd reached the entrance I'd already poured over original scores and hand-written notes by Legeti, Stockhausen and Cage, then as one room led into another equally sized one I realized this wasn't just another rote exhibit. Highlights included graphic scores by Kagel and Jun Paik and a 3-D realisation of Xenakis/Le Courbusier's Phillip's Pavillion. However, pinnicle had to Cage's Variations (I-IV) scores complete with notes and transparencies.

After all of that I didn't mind we couldn't find a train in the rainy evening, electing to trudge it on foot through the Brandenburg gate back into the Mitte for a quick dinner, picking up some Californian wine in the U-Bahn station and heading home to dry our feet.