Alex Berman • Art Practice • Lalya Gaye

Important Message from the Public (2005)

Posted by Alex on 1 October 2007⋅ Comment⋅ Share⋅  Email ⋅  Print
Tags: Göteborg, Live Music, Sound-Art, Urban Space

Musical flash-mob performance on Göteborg’s main avenue.

Four times a year in Sweden, a nation-wide civil emergency system called Viktigt meddelande till allmänheten (Important Message to the Public) is tested. The alarm system consists of air horns situated on top of buildings. The test takes place 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.

On 5th Sept. 2005, 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.


Official Project Website: Important Message from the Public - Timebend.