Water Games Place

The splash factory for the Lüdenscheid Rose garden

The shape of the rose garden’s central water looks very similar to that of a grand piano! And the Kerplunk Clavier, which allows three players to create quiet plunking, splashing and pattering sounds, was created for just that reason.

Multiple large machines with “keys and hammers” are mounted on a broader step on the shorter side of the water fountain. The shape of the fountain and the way the apparatuses are arranged into serial order together create a mental association with pianos as well as factories.

The way things are arranged and positioned – with a view from the slightly higher “stage platform” onto the “audience” sitting below in the rose garden – makes it easier for visitors to place themselves in the role of a concert performer.
A flywheel is set into motion via the levers of the machine. This, in turn, makes the various objects mounted onto the attached extension plunge down into the water as deep as 30 centimeters.

The sounds are created when stainless steel objects/surfaces are plunged into the water.
Half-sphere, flattened at the top: Plunk
Half-sphere, flattened at the bottom: Splash
Hollowed-out half-sphere: Patter
Associations created: The hammers of a piano or a machine.
The water is set into waves of resonant motion, just like the oscillations of a string!

Stefan Schilling and Michael Bradke have been developing robust, tone-producing exhibition pieces for interactive exhibitions in museums and children’s museums for a decade now. Previous collaborators include the Wolrdways Children‘s Museum in St. Louis, USA (Water Orchestra), the Deutsche Arbeitsschutzausstellung (DASA) in Dortmund (Time Disco, Piano-Building Workshop), the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Israel (Omele Machine) and various museums and children’s museums across Germany (monster flute, pressure drum and composing machine).

Their sound installations have inspired fun-filled musical experimentation among more than a hundred thousand children and adults.