Book of hours and landscapes 2025

Kolumba, Cologne and Bruder Klaus Kapelle, Wachendorf

What does silence sound like? The concert installation Book of hours and landscapes on 25–27 July 2025 explored the relationships between space, sound, and time. Two world-famous buildings by architect Peter Zumthor were conceptually linked: the Bruder Klaus Feldkapelle in Wachendorf/Eifel, a place of silence and contemplation, and Kolumba, the Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne.

Theme for 2025

After an opening event on 25 July at Kolumba, both sites were activated on 26 and 27 July in the rhythm of a seven-part “Book of Hours.” Two performances took place each morning in Wachendorf; five further performances could be experienced in the afternoon and evening at Kolumba. The experiences at the two locations formed a unified whole: sounds recorded in the surroundings of the chapel were heard as a sound installation in Kolumba; musical works performed in the Eifel landscape in the morning were later presented the same day in Kolumba in the context of the exhibition Artist at Work.

Thus, a multi-hour artwork emerged from the reciprocal relationships between space, sound, and time.

Works

Georges Aperghis, Hildegard of Bingen, John Cage, Josquin Desprez, Georg Friedrich Haas, Malika Kishino, Liza Lim, Guillaume de Machaut, Yoko Ono, Arne Sanders, Kaija Saariaho, Giacinto Scelsi, Jeremias Schwarzer, Vincent Stange, Helena Tulve, among others.

Musicians

TRANSIENT Interdisciplinary Research Ensemble: Olivia Stahn (voice), Valerie Fritz (violoncello), Vanessa Porter (percussion), Neus Estarellas Calderò (piano), Vincent Stange (transmedia composition, electronics), Jeremias Schwarzer (concept, recorders, artistic direction), Folkert Uhde (video, concert design), Ilka Seifert (concert design), Noah Vinzens (production management) • Guests: Frank Reinshagen (saxophone), Eugen Krah (didgeridoo), Anna Dimpfl (butoh performance), Stefan Kraus (recitation)

TRANSIENT Community Ensemble 2025: Gabriele Hammelmann, Irmgard Himstedt, Nataliia Illiukhina, Peter Kempers, Sabina Krauze, Patricia Langfeld, Heidi Lorei, eidi Rommelrath, Alex Tackenberg, Olgierd Wandzioch

TONIPONAL Ensemble of Rheinische Musikschule Cologne: Marei Seuthe (Leitung), Gernot Bogumil, Anna Dimpfl, Volker Gelhard, Christiane Ridder, Susanne Wahrburg, Susanna Welsch

Choir of Basilika Steinfeld: Erik Arndt (direction)