Electricity walking tour

An innovative guided tour through Cologne offers an extraordinary perspective on urban space. Using specially designed receivers that translate electromagnetic fields into sounds, the invisible is made audible. Electrical boxes, traffic lights, and parking meters create a soundscape ranging from synthetic tones to alien-sounding speech. Led by artists Kanade Hamawaki and Oliver Bedorf, participants not only discover technical connections but also explore questions about perception and space design. Participating groups are invited to creatively document their impressions in workbooks—an idea inspired by the Fluxus movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

In the tour's second part, participants have the option to explore the city's hidden sound worlds individually. Equipped with receivers and headphones, small groups can set out on their own to investigate. A reflective discussion at the end provides a space for sharing visually recorded notations in a collective exchange. Selected works will be added to an analog archive—a long-lasting documentation of artistic engagement with space and sound. The tours take place on May 3rd and 11th, 2025, in Cologne Nippes.

This event, supported by the City of Cologne, combines artistic performance and technology with social reflection, inviting attendees to experience the urban environment from an entirely new sonic perspective.