For the Sommerspaziergang event in Wettmar (Burgwedel, Germany), Iris Garrelfs has created a locally recorded soundwalk that invites listeners to experience the village anew through a stereo composition. This is on show at Beckers Hof on 27-28 June 2026.
Having grown up in Wettmar in the 1970s and 1980s, she returns as both insider and researcher, exploring how sound can make home and memory, change and continuity perceptible in everyday environments.
Developed during a residency at Beckers Hof in April 2026 and completed in subsequent studio work, the piece brings together field recordings from local places, conversations with residents, and Garrelfs’ own vocal reflections. Her voice is not used as explanatory commentary, but as a reflective presence that moves between observation, memory, speculation, and musicality.
The work invites audiences to encounter Wettmar as a soundscape shaped by personal and collective histories. Rather than documenting the village from a distance, it uses recording and composition as a way of thinking with and through place. By weaving together environmental sound, spoken voices, and reflective passages, the soundwalk frames listening as an embodied and situated practice that invites participants to develop their own relationship to Wettmar’s sounds, stories, and atmospheres.
A booklet of mobile-phone photographs taken during the recording process accompanies the composition, offering another perspective on the village.
The composition contains both English and German text. Below are approximate transcripts with timestamps, including German/English translations where needed.
With many thanks to Beckers Hof, Emy Brenneke, Heike Kuhlmann and the residents of Wettmar.
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