]momentum:flux[

beatific borderline

August 2, 2009 | Confusion 68, 3175 | 22:37

You may upbraid me a damn romantic hippie after reading this, but I have thought about this quite often and i experience evidence about it almost every day. I’ve been living in Berlin for almost 10 years now and no matter how my personal attitude and maturity may have changed along the way, there’s always been a place in this city that had an almost magic touch for me: the Mauerpark.

It used to be a dehumanizing death strip, separating and restraining people from their natural freedom, feared and shunned by many. Now, 20 years after the infamous Berlin wall tumbled down with the collapse of the cold war world order, the scar in the middle of the city has become a place for human beings to gather in peace and happiness, escape from their allday lives, to contemplate, communicate and enjoy themselves and each other.

It’s not quite a beautiful park compared to the many other *real* ones in Berlin, a rather bleak open field with a few trees, framed by a sports stadium and a bunch of run-down unaestetic storage spaces. Nonetheless it’s completely crowded every weekend during the flea market and people do barbecues in the mild evenings or spend their freetime playing boules with friends and strangers alike, much like in other parks.

Anyhow I have experienced so many countless special moments in that space, be it the most beautiful vanilla sky sunsets or amazing midnight fullmoons, far the best and deepest conversations, the funniest laughs, the most spontaneous random gatherings, moments of tranquility, solitude, sadness and lust for life. The intensity of these moments has always been kind of special in the Mauerpark compared to other places in Berlin - I am not really able to tell why.

I am just returning home from one of these magic moments. Walking from my office space towards my appartment I passed the Mauerpark quite fast, because the sky started to get overclouded very quickly and the first raindrops began to fall. A looming summer thunderstorm illuminated by reddish light of dusk. I noticed a uncommonly large crowd of people seeking shelter from the rain in the tiny grove close to the main path through the park. The scenery was accompanied by the rhythm of kettledrums so i got curious and approached the gathering. I was amazed by how many people were there, apparently dancing, clapping and screaming to a handful of drummers. It wasn’t just the regular crowd of hippies and foreign students, but also older people, yuppies, bums and average locals. The atmosphere was really mezmerizing and despite the rain that got stronger every minute everyone was laughing and joyfully shouting. It seemed like a primeval ceremony, all these people dancing to the hypnotizing beats of the drums, overwhelmed by the sudden forces of nature. I got stuck there until it was over - wet to the bones, but completely exhilarated I drifted away through the rain.

It’s really a shame to read about the future plans for the Mauerpark area - apparently the storage spaces are supposed to become expensive upper-class appartments, which would destroy the general atmosphere of the park and widen the gentrification gap even more. (see also http://www.mauerpark-fertigstellen.de/ (German))