Alexander Berman
ArtworksResearch+DevelopmentWritingMusicAbout
Video from the performance:
WMV low quality 7,2Mb
WMV high quality 107Mb

Excerpt of the dialogue (MP3)
Important Message from the Public
Alexander Berman, Ida Hallgren, Hampus Pettersson, Lalya Gaye, Kavita Thomas, Eva Hambe, Pierre Gander, Dan & Anna
The performance is a musical interaction with a civil emergency system. Four times a year in Sweden, a nation-wide alarm system called Viktigt meddelande till allmänheten (Important Message to the Public) is tested. Consisting of of air horns situated on top of buildings, the alarm is tested at 3 PM the first Monday of the last month in each quarter of the year and has two parts: Important Message (short siren, short silence, for two minutes) and No Danger (long siren). All horns play at the same frequency, corresponding roughly to a G tone.

A small orchestra gathered at the main avenue in Göteborg to engage in a musical dialogue with the siren. The orchestra performed an intro (starting at 2.55 PM) and then responded to each horn signal with a new pair of tones, letting the sirens get the last word with No Danger.

Acknowledgements to Räddningstjänsten in Göteborg.

2006  Film screening at Video Lick, Atalante, Göteborg
2005  Performance at Kungsportsavenyn, Göteborg

All content copyright © Alex Berman