Cities and Memory - remixing the world

 | On the border between Austria and Germany, a forest centre dominates the riverine landscape with its treetop walk. With this recording we're walking along the wooden trail. It's the weekend, so families are enjoying their time here. The sound at the end is the walking stick of a visually impaired visitor.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

Here the Lech creates stunning heart-shapes, only visible from high up. This is called string of pearls, and here the river takes its space and its time, slowing down. The sound is taken where the river bed is at its largest, and the water caresses the vegetation around it.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

While the first part of the river has been mostly pastoral, further down its course the water is also used for heavy industry, and this is the first we come across on our path from the source towards the Danube. It's noon, the factory siren and the church bells are beckoning workers to go home for lunch.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

The hanging bridge is a stunning construction overarching the string of pearls. People love walking across it, and cycling too (even if it's forbidden), and their passage makes the steel cables vibrate and sound like the strings of a giant instrument.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

Wooden bridges are a common sight in this area, where the river is still narrow enough for this type of structure. Over this one a conspiracy of ravens is interacting with some smaller, but no less fierce, birds.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

 | Looking for Ulrichsbrücke we got lost and ended up in an enormous, sci-fi looking gravel factory. This is where the gravel dug up from the river bed is processed and mostly used for construction. I walk along the river banks, and by now the gravel I treaded might be a road, or a building.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

As the mountains start to give way to the plains, the human impact gets more visible. The river goes through several Wasserkraftwerk - hydropower stations - that create reservoirs where birds find their home in a stark contrast (or cohabitation?) between artificial structures and nature.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

Without any tourists in sight, water and birds are all you can hear in the valley where the Lech gradually grows from a mountain stream to a large river. A tractor intruded into my bucolic recording, but it's a realistic representation of the strong agricultural nature of this area.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

 | As we move down the Lech valley, the river grows, collecting water from the streams it finds along its way. Under this specific bridge the water changed its tone, growing a darker timbre.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

The first section of the Lech is as close as possible to the idea of an alpine paradise: ice-cold waters running through bright green meadows and dark pines, and people wearing dirndl and lederhosen walking through the quiet, sleepy towns. But the silence was deceptive. October, when we visited, felt like a moment of repose between the busy summer season and the even busier winter season. The chairlift operating in Warth was a reminder of that, with its incessant drone and metallic clang.

Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli.

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Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.