This field recording was made during a walk along the Oder River, which forms the boundary between Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice. Despite the river’s visual prominence in the landscape of these twin cities, its presence is barely perceptible in the local soundscape. From the bridge connecting the two cities, the sound of traffic dominates, muffling nearly all other sonic traces of their “throwntogetherness”—an uneasy proximity between two distinct cultures and histories at this shared border.
To better capture the presence of water in the soundscape, I crossed to a small island on the Polish side, stretching along the riverbank toward the bridge. Moving away from the hum of vehicles, the sound of the water became audible, merging with the distant ringing of church bells from both banks of the river. Here, the practice of field recording stages a common ground between the twin cities, seeking to re-imagine their connection.