zu Bong (2014)

zu Bong is a new sonic bike work made for Bonn. Mapped to the city’s centre streets from Oxfordstrasse in the North to Botanische Garten in the south, the river Rhine in the east to Wittelsbacherring in the west, visitors are invited to come take out a bike and cruise through its streets to hear them transformed by the journey they decide to take.

zu Bong, go find your own sonic narrative through layers of sounds recorded from the city’s life in April, then processed, slowed down and relocated into layers of shifting harmonies rooted around the city’s resonant frequencies and the vibrations of the human body. Designed to frame the changing sonic narrative already present on the streets, zu Bong, more than any other sonic bike work so far, enables listening, interacting with the city’s day and its changing sonic architecture. Rediscover your city.

zu Bong was made by Kaffe Matthews using sonic mapper gizmo written by Dave Griffiths, made for The swamp that was and developed for Opera fiXi.

Matthews conceived of the piece during a 10 day residency in Bonn, April 2014 and it was commissioned by Carsten Seiffarth for bonn hoeren festival 2014.