A sounding walk through a situation that’s already finished and a place that no longer exists | Simon Whetham & Gregory Büttner
GrDl 232 | Gruen Digital > [order]
MP3 & FLAC
2022: Gregory Büttner and Simon Whetham were invited to make a new version of their collaboration project „Place is the Space“ for the new festival betweenEbbandFlow : interstitial spaces to work with outdoor sites, and respond to each other and the place with sound over visual communication. They were given access to a large open-sided hall space at PARKS which houses a concrete ping pong table and is often filled with the sound of the factory opposite. A challenge for them to work with…
Over 5 days that summer they explored what worked/was possible and what didn’t/wasn’t. The final presentation took place over 6 hours on July 2nd 2022 with them rebuilding and reinstalling everything they had done the previous days, then altering, adjusting, moving, adding and then subtracting elements and actions until by 21:00 the space was returned to its original state. The pair recorded these actions and other sonic activity of the site with a view to presenting the project as a composed work at some point in the future.
After much stalling and false starts the piece is now complete, but then the artists asked themselves and each other the question: what is it not?
It is a document of the project, but it is not a documentation of the project.
It is a composed work, but it is not a composition.
It is a sounding walk, but it is not a sound walk.
It is a site-responsive installation and performance, but it is neither of these things.
1 Track (42′01″)
Many thanks to Gruenrekorder for supporting the project and releasing the piece, to Giulia Busetti for curating the festival and to everyone who came and experienced the work.
Sound Art Series by Gruenrekorder
Germany / 2026 / GrDl 232 / LC 09488