a site responsive sound walk
To listen, you will need:
A smart phone
Headphones or earbuds*
2. Download Seeds of Memory on the ECHOES app
3. Put your headphones on
4. Enter, walk, and listen
A century ago, Henry A. Wallace set modern farming on a new course by founding Hi-Bred Corn Company. He spent the first four years of his life in this expansive place-the farm where his mother cross-bred pansies and his grandfather first established the Wallace family legacy of agricultural inquiry, innovation, and sustainability.
Like our plant geneticist fellows, artists must embrace technology and experimentation in our efforts to discover “something really new” in aesthetic and philosophical realms. In the spirit of Henry A., we geo-mapped these recordings throughout Wallace Farm, using plants found at the site as our guides-seeds for each sonic exploration. Like an interconnected and ever-evolving ecosystem, each composition flows into the next as you walk.
This sound walk is an invitation to listen in the spirit of curiosity as you walk the land as Henry A., his mother, grandfather, and those who came before have done.

You keep on experimenting, you know, day after day, because you keep thinking that one day, maybe tomorrow, something really new may emerge from it.”
-Henry A. Wallace
The Artists

Anna Gebhardt

Philip Rabalais
The Site

Wallace Farm
2773 290th Street, Orient, IA
Open daily, self-guided tours of the Wallace Farm are available any time of the day or evening. During the summer, staff are usually on site during the day Monday-Friday.
