Phantomlimbs–encounteringthehiddenspacesoftheformerWestBerlin
Sandra Jasper is adoctoral studentat theUCLUrbanLaboratory.Her researchfocusses on the body‐city nexus and embodied encounters with space in thelate‐modernmetropolis.HerPhDthesisCyborgimagina2ons:nature,technologyandurban space inWestBerlin (1948‐1984) draws fromdiversefields, suchassoundart,engineeringandarchitecture.ExamplesexploredareBerlin’shiddenspaces that emerged from the city’s division and the experienEal aspects ofacousEclandscapes.SheisteachingintheUCLMScUrbanStudies.
SandraJasperPhDCandidate
UCLUrbanLaboratoryUniversityCollegeLondon
[email protected]/urbanlab
AnexploraEonretracingabandonedtransportinfrastructuresaboveandbeneaththesurface.
AcousEclandscapes‐MemoriesofmobilityinBillFontana’ssoundinstallaEon“EnPernteZuege”(distanttrains)1984,AnhalterBahnhof,Berlin
Tracesinmapsandplans‐theunfinishedundergroundlineU10/lineF,LandesarchivBerlin
LookingatthecitythroughitshiddeninfrastructuresopensupnewperspecEvesonitsspaEalhistory.InWestBerlin,abandonedandmarginalspacesemergedalongsidetransportinfrastructuresasaresultofthecity’sgeopoliEcaldivision.
AspartofmyPhDproject,Iexaminetheinterconnectedhistoryofthedividedcity’sinfrastructureinordertoquesEonpopularnoEonsofWestBerlin’s“island”statusduringtheColdWarandtoshednewlightonscholarlymetaphorsdeployedtoexaminethecity.MuchofthevocabularycurrentlyemployedtoaccountforthosespacesthatemergeattheintersecEonoflandscapeandinfrastructureisconcernedwithhowtouElizethese“le_over”,“waste”,or“loose”spacesinthefuture,butdoesrarelyaccountfortheexperienceofthesespecificurbanlandscapes.
IncorporaEngthephenomenonofphantomlimbsintoourunderstandingofthebody‐citynexus,enablesustoexplorequesEonsofculturalmemoryandsensoryexperienceinrelaEontothoseinvisiblespaceshiddenaboveorbeneaththesurfaceofacitythat–inthecaseofWestBerlin–emergedthroughintersecEngprocessesofgeopoliEcaldivisionandcyclesofinvestmentanddisinvestmentinurbaninfrastructures.
Moreover,acloserinvesEgaEonofBerlin’s“phantomlimbs”alsoopensupwaysofcharEngthecorporealexperienceofspaceandthosesensoryaspectsofthebody’sspaEalexperiencethatgobeyondthevisualrealm.RevisiEngsoundartprojectsoftheearly1980sthatturnedtheirabenEontoWestBerlin’sderelicttransportinfrastructures,opensupreflecEonsonthewiderhistorical,poliEcalandculturalcontextsinwhichtheseurbanlandscapeswereexperienced.
Transportbiotopes‐photographicstudiesatAnhalterBahnhof,Berlin,1982
