On 18 September 2025, the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel Adult Education Centre invited guests to an artists’ café at the Artists’ and Scholarship Holders’ House. The guest was composer CHEN Chengwen, the current scholarship holder.
CHEN Chengwen used his stay in Salzwedel to explore the music of St. Mary’s organ, which can be heard clearly from the artists’ and scholarship holders’ residence. But that wasn’t the only source of inspiration. The city’s tonal diversity inspired him to create artistic transformations that make the atmosphere and history of Salzwedel audible.
Have you ever consciously paid attention to the sounds around you? Even in a closed room, you can hear the ticking of the clock or the noise of traffic outside the window. CHEN Chengwen focuses on these sounds that are often overlooked or considered part of everyday life: since July, he has been working at the Artists’ and Scholarship House, researching the concept of the ‘soundscape’ – the acoustic experience of different spaces. His goal is to discover musicality in the everyday sounds of the Hanseatic city of Salzwedel and transform them into new, contemporary compositions. @_AMK
He presented this implementation to the numerous guests at the Künstlercafé not only acoustically but also visually on a screen.
CHEN Chenwen plays his composition on the piano_@_Bild Verein