Penker's Place

portable speakers, MP3 players, 2018

George Penker designed the Ruhr-Universität Bochum’s “Wasserfall” to contrast the logical axis of the campus’s grand design. The structure emulates the form of a mountain stream, with undulating blocks directing water towards the east end of campus. Unfortunately, the Wasserfall is now damaged to the point that water can no longer run through it. Penker’s Place attempts to bring the water back through sound. The installation consists of three speakers placed along the fountain’s path. Each speaker plays an individual recording, taken from water sources around Bochum: a stream near campus, a drainage pipe on campus, and a fountain in the city center. The sound blends into the space, re-introducing the sensation of water as a means to play with themes of memory, data collection, and spatial reinvigoration.

This project was created in cooperation with the MFA Public Art and New Artistic Strategies of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the Ruhr-Universität Bochum.