Sauerland-Höhenflug: listening to the clouds on the forest sofa

Sound sculpture "Wolkenbank" invites you to take a break and enjoy art on the Nordhelle.

It is located on the Nordhelle on the Sauerland-Höhenflug directly below the striking Robert-Kolb-Turm and brings hikers a little closer to heaven. We are talking about the sound sculpture "Wolkenbank" by Cologne-based artist couple Katerina Kuznetcowa and Alexander Edisherov, a rocking forest sofa that has found a temporary home in the Sauerland as part of the Spiritual Summer. Here, those seeking peace and quiet can take a seat and gaze into the blue, listen to the clouds and at the same time listen to poems about and by clouds in eight languages. This special listening experience can be enjoyed until September 10 as part of the Spiritual Summer 2023.
The motto of the Spiritual Summer "Heaven and Earth" served as inspiration. "These are two spheres that are connected by clouds - poetically and physically," explains Alexander Edisherov. "Clouds are a mass that reflects our imagination, a projection surface for our wishes." And so he and Katerina Kuznetcowa have selected poems about clouds in German, English, Turkish, Chinese, Ukrainian, Russian, Spanish and Italian, had them read by professional speakers in their native language and combined them into a sound sculpture. These can now be heard from the solar-powered loudspeaker; there is no translation on site for those listening. "The sound of the poems is a beautiful melody in itself," say the creators of the art project. They include works by Rainer Maria Rilke, Ernst Scherenberg, Christina Rossetti, Antonino Anile, Alexander Pushkin and others.

The second location of the "Cloud Bank" was also chosen deliberately. The forest sofa in Sauerland design, which has now found its place on the Nordhelle and offers a fantastic view over the municipality of Herscheid and the Märkischer Kreis, also has a little surprise in store - a luxury function, so to speak. It can bounce. Whether in time to the sounds or completely individually is up to the hikers themselves. The project was realized in cooperation with the partner institutions Netzwerk "Wege zum Leben. In Südwestfalen", the municipality of Herscheid, the Sauerland Rothaargebirge Nature Park and Sauerland Tourism.
Katerina Kuznetcowa and Alexander Edisherov are particularly dedicated to art in public spaces. For them, the sound installation at Sauerland-Höhenflug is therefore above all an invitation to engage in conversation and is intended to stimulate thought. "It's exciting for us every time passers-by encounter the sound sculpture without knowing that it's a work of art." The reactions then range from enthusiasm to incomprehension, but are always an impulse for communication and exchange.
Hikers can still experience the special charisma and effect of the "Cloud Bank" on the Nordhelle until 10 September, before the installation is dismantled again and finds its place for a third and final time at another location along the Sauerland-Höhenflug in 2024.

Image information:
The "Cloud Bank" on the Sauerland-Höhenflug is a sound sculpture by artists Katerina Kuznetcowa and Alexander Edisherov.

Contact for the press:
Rouven Soyka, Sauerland-Tourismus e. V.
Johannes-Hummel-Weg 1, 57392 Schmallenberg
Tel.: 02974-969830, e-mail: presse@sauerland.com