More and more people tell stories: of love, dust, child adoption, church, and lots of steam. In 1998, the last laundresses of the ‘Magdalena Laundry’ of Cork were set free. The building was then locked up for years. It is 2005: the aprons still hang in the metal cupboards, mascots, figures of the Virgin Mary, drawings reminiscent of secret messages, instructions for the use of washing machines and a sign marked ‘woollies only’ lie around, as if they had just been used. Only the thick layers of dust remind us of the secret that has been kept under lock and key for years.

Opening spaces with music - this credo has taken on a very special urgency here. Six weeks as ‘Artist in Residence of Cork - European Capital of Culture’ follow: - a lot of cleaning work, touching encounters, and always an ‘open hour’ at midday. The nursing staff of the neighbouring hospital takes advantage of this. Finally, a crowd of people gathers at noon - full of amazement and stories.

The improvised sounds scan the walls as they whisper their stories. Using the frottage technique, the structures of the surfaces of washtubs and walls roughened by steam also become visible. These in turn become the basis for Son-Icons - graphic notations. Underwater recordings with hydrophones approach this steaming parallel world. With the five-hour performance for viola and voice in the rising tides of the Atlantic on the slipway in Cork Harbour, the arc to freedom is newly drawn. The musical-visual installation opens up the space and the solo performance ‘Slipway to Galaxies’ leads our thoughts towards freedom.

Anderwelten has shaken things up politically. For hospital employees, patients and numerous visitors, a new, wider associative space has temporarily emerged in the former ‘Magdalena Laundry’. In the meantime, the laundry has been converted into a large

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