Collapsing (New) Buildings: Town planning, history and music in Hubertus Siegert's Berlin Babylon (2001).

Hurley, AW

Collapsing (New) Buildings: Town planning, history and music in Hubertus Siegert's Berlin Babylon (2001).

Hurley, AW

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Publisher:: UTSePress, Sydney
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Portal Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2011, 8 (1), pp. 1 - 23
Issue Date:: 2011-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Hurley, AW https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6717-3537	en_US
dc.date.issued	2011-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Portal Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2011, 8 (1), pp. 1 - 23	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1449-2490	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/18747
dc.description.abstract	Hubertus Siegerts impressionistic documentary, Berlin Babylon, illuminates the demolition and urban renewal of Berlin during the mid-late 1990s. This was a critical phase in the citys history, as it prepared, amidst a flurry of excitement and anticipation, to become the united Germany's seat of power. Siegert's film seeks to give pause for thought, but deliberately eschews a voice of god voiceover, opting instead for a poetic audiovisual montage. This includes shots of the cityscape (and its lacunae), archival footage documenting the wartime devastation and subsequent dynamiting of buildings, observational cinema of the citys busy building sites, and of verbal snippets from various architects, developers and politiciansfollowing the film titles cue, the agents in a rerun of the construction of the Tower of Babelas well as epigraphs from the Bible and Walter Benjamin, and a prominent soundscape and musical score. As this article will demonstrate, the films (mostly) sombre soundtrack plays a critical role here, commenting on the footage, and beyond that on the whole project of the new `Berlin Republic and its attitude to architectural heritage and twentieth century history. Re-figuring the theme of this volume, Berlin Babylons music is a form of writing about (collapsing, old) architecture and history. And yet, the soundtrack is not as unambiguous as a voiceover might have been, and thereby allows creative space for the audiences interpretation, a matter that was very important to the films director. This article will focus, in particular, on three elements: the use (and treatment) of historical recordings in the film; the use of silence; and finally the way in which tracks from the Berlin band Einstürzende Neubauten use music, noise and text to comment on the project of the new Berlin.	en_US
dc.publisher	UTSePress, Sydney	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Portal Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies	en_US
dc.title	Collapsing (New) Buildings: Town planning, history and music in Hubertus Siegert's Berlin Babylon (2001).	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	8	en_US
utslib.for	2002 Cultural Studies	en_US
utslib.for	2005 Literary Studies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.volume	8	en_US

Abstract:

Hubertus Siegerts impressionistic documentary, Berlin Babylon, illuminates the demolition and urban renewal of Berlin during the mid-late 1990s. This was a critical phase in the citys history, as it prepared, amidst a flurry of excitement and anticipation, to become the united Germany's seat of power. Siegert's film seeks to give pause for thought, but deliberately eschews a voice of god voiceover, opting instead for a poetic audiovisual montage. This includes shots of the cityscape (and its lacunae), archival footage documenting the wartime devastation and subsequent dynamiting of buildings, observational cinema of the citys busy building sites, and of verbal snippets from various architects, developers and politiciansfollowing the film titles cue, the agents in a rerun of the construction of the Tower of Babelas well as epigraphs from the Bible and Walter Benjamin, and a prominent soundscape and musical score. As this article will demonstrate, the films (mostly) sombre soundtrack plays a critical role here, commenting on the footage, and beyond that on the whole project of the new `Berlin Republic and its attitude to architectural heritage and twentieth century history. Re-figuring the theme of this volume, Berlin Babylons music is a form of writing about (collapsing, old) architecture and history. And yet, the soundtrack is not as unambiguous as a voiceover might have been, and thereby allows creative space for the audiences interpretation, a matter that was very important to the films director. This article will focus, in particular, on three elements: the use (and treatment) of historical recordings in the film; the use of silence; and finally the way in which tracks from the Berlin band Einstürzende Neubauten use music, noise and text to comment on the project of the new Berlin.

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