Eisschmelze

site-specific sound-space intervention  2025  |  concealed speakers, player, cables

Eiskeller Altenberge

The site-specific sound-space intervention (Ice melt) engages with traces of the past in the extensive, subterranean and historic ice cellar in Altenberge, allowing the ice once stored there to ensure the constant cooling of beer production in the former brewery to melt acoustically.

Numerous water sounds from the Steinfurt district – from individual droplets to gently flowing water – form the material of the reconstructed soundscape. In the three-storey ice cellar, a constant chill prevails; the air is heavy and damp, and individual drops of water repeatedly fall to the ground. In the installation, loudspeakers were discreetly positioned at various locations. The sound space unfolded through the interplay of dripping water, the cellar’s architectural structures and the movements of the listeners, creating a sensory encounter with space, history and sound. Proximity and distance, expanse, density and the spatial movements of the composition opened up new listening spaces – making the familiar seem strange and the everyday appear anew.

This sonic journey of discovery was complemented by guided tours of the ice cellar. In cooperation with the Municipality of Altenberge and Eiskeller Altenberge.