Cloister Sounds – 
An Acoustic Walk  

An Acoustic Walk Through Gravenhorst and Its History 

What does the district of Steinfurt sound like? This is the question Austrian media artist Hans-Jürgen Poëtz has been exploring throughout the year in his project Klangwelt Kreis Steinfurt. Equipped with microphones and a recording device, he has been gradually tracing the district’s “acoustic DNA”, revealing new facets of their home even to people who have lived here all their lives—bringing these aspects not to their eyes, but to their ears. A good reason, then, to close one’s eyes and listen closely.

As an employee of DA, Kunsthaus Kloster Gravenhorst, I am perhaps most familiar with the soundscape surrounding the former Cistercian convent. Until the dissolution of the monastery in 1808, it housed a convent of around a dozen nuns and their staff. Historically, monasteries are considered places of silence and contemplation – Gravenhorst was certainly no exception. The women who lived here sought tranquillity, far removed from worldly temptations, to praise the Christian God and – in keeping with their vocation – to pray for the souls of the convent’s founders and benefactors. In addition to these mostly family-based contributions, the nuns managed several independent sources of income, including the monastery mill with its fishpond, the bakery and brewhouse, as well as stables and a forge.

Today, in an age of modern tourism, many surviving monasteries transform their reputation as secluded retreats into a lucrative asset. In particular, the so-called “silent monasteries” offer the stress-ridden people of the 21st century a – at least temporary – escape from the hectic noise of everyday life. Whether for a few hours or several days, visitors withdraw into the quiet of the cloister, leaving behind the beeping of mobile phones, the pounding of machinery, and the hum of engines at the gate in order to listen, at least for a while, to their inner voice.

Anyone seeking silence and seclusion in the Gravenhorst monastery park is in for a surprise. Just a few hundred metres from the monastic ensemble, the constant roar of the motorway can be heard. The A30 federal motorway runs from the German–Dutch border to Bad Oeynhausen and skirts the Tecklenburg region. Near Hörstel, the trunk road passes directly by the grounds of DA, Kunsthaus. Some people experience the noise of the roughly 50,000 vehicles that travel along it each day as a personal affront.

But there are other opinions. Quite a number of people find the juxtaposition of the monastery as a historical place of silence and the modern sound of the motorway an intriguing contrast. Among artists in particular, the motorway exerts a distinct fascination. Each year, within the context of the KunstKommunikation project grant – of which Hans-Jürgen Poëtz’s Klangwelt Kreis Steinfurt is a part – the Kunsthaus receives new applications from artists wishing to explore the sound of cars and lorries. There is no end in sight.

A closer look at the site in its contemporary function suggests that the motorway is not in opposition to the character of the place but rather completes it. For all the awareness of its historical legacy, DA is a centre for contemporary art whose projects address questions rooted in the here and now. The abbreviation DA – Denkmal-Atelier (“Monument Studio”) –already hints at this. With the motorway as its neighbour, DA, Kunsthaus is firmly anchored in the present, for better or worse: a symbol of speed and progress, but also of haste, noise, and environmental impact.

Even in earlier times, Gravenhorst was likely far from quiet, given the work involved in running the monastery. The nuns often faced military conflicts, looting, and destruction, as this year’s historical presentation WEATHER. WARS. PLAGUES. vividly illustrates. And during the two centuries between the dissolution of the monastery and the opening of the Kunsthaus, Gravenhorst could hardly be described as a place of silence. In this period, the former monastic building was used as an iron foundry, a steam engine factory, and even a prisoner-of-war camp. In comparison, what are a few engines echoing through the trees?

Above all, the A30 by no means dominates the soundscape of Gravenhorst. Stand in the monastery park and close your eyes: you will hear so much more – the birds chirping in the treetops, the water trickling in the moat, the wind rustling through the leaves, the gravel crunching underfoot. Children laughing from the direction of the labyrinth, the clinking of glasses in the courtyard, muted voices, soft footsteps echoing off the old walls. History and the present, united in harmony.

Onno Bargfrede is Deputy Director of DA, Kunsthaus Kloster Gravenhorst, where he is responsible for marketing and for coordinating the KunstKommunikation project grant.