The short version
- Annea Lockwood recorded the Danube from its sources in the Black Forest to its delta at the Black Sea between 2001 and 2005.
- The 167-minute installation weaves the river’s sound with the voices of twelve people who live beside it, each asked what the river means to them.
- It runs at the MAK Forum in Vienna from October 28 to November 29, its first showing in the city.
The composer Annea Lockwood, born in 1939, began recording the Danube in 2001 at Donaueschingen, in Germany’s Black Forest. Over four years she travelled 2,850 km in around 80 stages to the river’s delta at the Black Sea. The result, A Sound Map of the Danube, is a multichannel installation that runs 167 minutes. It opens at the MAK Forum in Vienna on October 28 as part of the Wien Modern festival. It has never been shown in the city before.
Wien Modern lists what you hear: a dam’s roar, tadpoles in the wetlands, water sizzling at a ferry’s bow. Woven through it are the voices of twelve people Lockwood interviewed in their own languages. She asked each one, “What does the river mean to you? Could you live without it?” Their stories include Ada Kaleh, the sunken Ottoman outpost at the Iron Gate, and memories of war in Novi Sad. A book carries German and English translations, a wall map marks where each recording was made, and a time display lets visitors follow the river as it plays.
The opening is Tuesday, October 27: Lockwood talks with Kristina Pia Hofer at 6 pm, in English, and the exhibition opens at 7 pm, free. After that, admission is €19 at the desk or €18 online, €15.50 for students under 27 and visitors over 65, and free for under 19s. Tuesday evenings from 6 to 9 pm cost €9.50. It runs until November 29.
