Listening walks at Witten/Herdecke University

What does the campus of Witten/Herdecke University sound like? The art project "Whispers of the Terrain. A Sound Cartography of the Witten/Herdecke Campus". Resident artist Claudia Robles-Angel has been a guest at the UW/H since the winter semester 2024/25. Together with students, she has developed a "sound trail" that leads along various stations on the university campus. The meditative walk makes it possible to experience how diverse and surprising the acoustic environment can be if you consciously perceive it - be it the buzzing insects in the university garden, the rustling of book pages in the library or the sounds of a revolving door. Inspired by the artistic practices of deep listening and sonic awareness, Claudia Robles-Angeles uses her work to sensitise people to mindfulness and a heightened sense of hearing.

The free guided tours through the sound trail will take place on Saturday, 5 July 2025, at 2:30 pm, 4:00 pm and 5:30 pm. The meeting point is the entrance to the Great Hall at the main building, Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 50, 58455 Witten. Please register in advance: Bettina.Voigt@uni-wh.de. After the quiet sounds of the parcours, the evening will be filled with the sounds of the choir and orchestra of Witten/Herdecke University. The summer concert will take place at 7.00 pm in the Great Hall - under the direction of University Music Director Ingo Ernst Reihl.

The artist Claudia Robles-Angel (born in Bogotá, Colombia, lives in Cologne) always works at and with interfaces: auditive and visual, digital and analogue, performative and research-based. The artist composes, stages and experiments with light, electronic impulses and virtual colour systems, creating installative settings and participatory environments that are both artificial and organic at the same time.

The artist-in-residence programme is organised by the Chair of Digital Arts and Cultural Mediation at the WittenLab. Zukunftslabor Studium fundamentale at Witten/Herdecke University, funded by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.

Further information on the event can be found here.