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is a new interactive bike experience made from and mapped along the banks of the river Pegnitz, Nürnberg by Kaffe Matthews and the Bicrophonic Research Institute with residents Silja Beck, Ina Ritter, Alessia Pennavaria and Alexandria Salariu. Commissioned by Carsten Seiffarth, it was produced by Eric Nikodym (lucid dreams) for Songlines N2025.
15 sonic bikes for you to ride, 16.- 25.10.20 Spitalgasse 1, Nürnberg, 10.00-18.00h täglich.
Over small distances, the banks of the river Pegnitz are rich in variety. The obvious, the historical, the architectural and social. Stop to investigate, and you will hear sounds and frequencies amplified by the tunnels you pass through, transported along the bridges above you, enabling a music you might not have realised existed.
The research began at the neighbouring town of Pegnitz home of the river’s source. Only 40 mins train ride away but in June 2020 Matthews didn’t find it bursting forth as expected. Only a small pool and an empty concrete pond. But careful microphones and an hour later, a moment came. A massive fat frequency at low C sharp sounded by the passing roaring traffic. The piece had begun.
She again found this frequency in some of its tunnels exploring Nürnberg later that week, as well as it being the frequency at which the cobalt blue Blue Rider at Hans Sachs Platz vibrates. Slowly cycling the rivers banks, the glide of very different spaces sitting adjacent, she heard people, shops, new squares, homes, a kindergarten, nature, the police, designer boutiques, the Hangman’s wooden bridge, coffee and spritz sippers, functional transport bridges, talking talking in multiple languages, less organised nature, and the joy of the reality under the Theodor Hauss Brücke. All along the way too, the river is crossed by many different bridges and tunnels, each of different materials with different stories somehow spanning histories, embracing the shifting requirements its residents have needed all this time.
More recordings and experiments in the tunnels with Silja, Alessia and Alex amplified and sounded these spaces into songs and stories, some further processed in the studio, then retold and woven into this electroacoustic and interactive adventure, which performed from sonic bikes when visitors came to ride the route, so triggering the score to play.
DISCOVER THE MAKING PROCESS HERE
With special thanks to the voices and tunnel players: Silja Beck, Ina Ritter, Alessia Pennavaria, Alexandria Salariu
Also Alexander Salariu – multi talented assistance, Mikey Weinkove – bicrophonic preparation London, Stefan – bicrophonic preparation Nürnberg, Oliver – electronic repair, Nürnberg
as well as Carsten Seiffarth and Eric Nikodym for endless support through tricky COVID almost thwarted times
Thank you too to Sandra and Felix for patience in the sonic bike takeover at Spitlagasse 1, N2025 action HQ. SONGLINES N2025
