Ian Mikyska´s site-specific electroacoustic composition along the Stříbrnický potok explores the sonic environment of this mellifluous watercourse in Bertino údolí, Ústí nad Labem. The valley forms part of the city and yet remains somewhat removed from its everyday bustle. A location that is contained in the city yet remains somewhat removed from its daily routine. It was named in honour of Bertha Schaffner, the wife of the director of the Spolek pro chemickou a hutní výrobu, who, at the end of the 19th century, played a key role in transforming it into a nature park with rest areas and supported this endeavour with a financial donation. The Stříbrnický potok runs through the valley alongside a path that repeatedly twists into steep switchbacks along the hillside. However, many people simply drive past the valley rather than making a point of going there and stopping for a while.

The starting point for the installation Along (Stříbrnický potok) was the sound Ian Mikyska heard during his first walk through Bertino údolí, experienced in a constantly shifting relationship to his own movement. The electroacoustic composition, which invites sonic contemplation, combines field recordings from Bertino údolí with a classical guitar part and sustained electronic tones (sine waves), resonating through the bubbling sections of the Stříbrnický potok. Here, the sound of the water becomes more than a record of a particular place – it becomes part of a structure in which space, movement, and time are intertwined. The composition even prescribes the tempo and speed at which listeners should move through the space. The musical tones thus enter into an ever-changing relationship with the real sounds of water, stones, and the surrounding environment.