Accessible tour of The Forty Part Motet & BODIES AND SUBWOOFERS (B.A.S)

Accessible tour of the sound installations The Forty Part Motet by Janet Cardiff and BODIES AND SUBWOOFERS (B.A.S.) by Stefanie Egedy

In 2026 the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen are showing two extraordinary sound installations in the baroque Galerie and in the Großer Garten:
The Forty Part Motet is an installation by the artist Janet Cardiff on the 16th-century motet Spem in Alium, by Thomas Tallis. The recording of this piece for 40 voices is conveyed by 40 loudspeakers arranged in an inward-facing oval in the Herrenhausen Galerie. Each individual voice has its own loudspeaker. Visitors can wander at will inside the oval, going up close to individual voices or experiencing the overall sound of the choir.

BODIES AND SUBWOOFERS (B.A.S.), by Stefanie Egedy, is also an installation of loudspeakers. Big bass boxes are arranged into a sculpture in the Rasengarten. They play extremely low frequencies that can be felt in the whole body. Moving through the Rasengarten, you encounter changing pressure fields as the garden becomes a pulsating space of sound and vibration. Visitors can sit or lie on the loudspeakers, and the effect can also be powerfully felt in the grass or on the surrounding park benches.

Zwoisy Mears-Clarke, a performance artist with a decolonial and inclusive approach, has devised an accessible tour of the sound installations The Forty Part Motet and BODIES AND SUBWOOFERS (B.A.S.). The works‘ two creators are introduced in easily understandable language.

The meeting point is at 5 p.m. on Tue. 26.5 at the KunstFestSpiele festival centre at the entrance to the Herrenhausen Gardens. Tour participants may also be collected from the tram stop Herrenhäuser Gärten, accompanied on the tour and brought back to the tram stop. Please request this service ahead of time.

The tour lasts around 90 minutes. The time distance between the two installations is about 15 minutes (walking distance c. 500 m).

Access to the Galerie and the Großer Garten is via a ramp. There are gravel paths in the Großer Garten itself. Two wheelchairs and two electric scooters are available at the information pavilion, and may be borrowed to manage the walking distances in the Großer Garten. Please state your needs ahead of time.

Make sure to wear weatherproof clothing and sturdy shoes.

You can obtain further information under Accessibility.

Contact for questions: tel. +49 511 168 33 811