Telemegaphone Dale 4-Ever!

The world’s most grandiose telephone service reopens August 3. The small Norwegian village of Dale gets its own permanent telemegaphone.

Telemegaphone Dale is a seven-metres tall loudspeaker sculpture on top of the Jøtulshaugen mountain overlooking the idyllic Dalsfjord in Western Norway. Anyone can dial +47 90 369389 and have the sound of their voice projected out across the fjord, the valley and the village of Dale.

Telemegaphone Dale is produced by Swedish interaction design studio Unsworn Industries. It is part of a new series of poetic telecommunications services: Unsworn Telecom.

During a six week test period last August and September people from all over the world called and shared heartaches and secrets, sang from the top of their lungs, and sent greetings to local friends. Telemegaphone Dale has spurred interest, controversy and debate in Dale and the rest of the world. There has got to be someone in that village that wants to chop it down, wrote one appalled American blogger. Wow, this such a great display of faith in people!, exclaimed an excited Eric Myieni in South African radio. Many even refused to believe the telemegaphone really existed.

The telemegaphone offers unusual and unexpected opportunities and touches upon fundamental issues of democracy, communication and control. That spurs people’s imagination, says Magnus Torstensson of Unsworn Industries. People from all over the world have made use of it in the most innovative and surprising ways.

When Telmegaphone Dale closed for the deer hunt in September 2008 it continued to engage people in both Dale and the rest of the world. Fjaler municipality soon decided to make it a permanent installation. From august onwards it will be a part of everyday life in Dale as an experimental means of communication and a local landmark for at least three years.

A telemegaphone allows the world to interfere at any moment, uncensored and anonymous. We’re happy and impressed that Dale, despite conflicting opinions, decided to keep the Telemegaphone and make it part of their everyday lives, says Erik Sandelin of Unsworn Industries.

Fjaler’s motto is an open society in the centre of the world, says Ingeborg Tysnes, Fjaler’s head of culture. By accepting a thing like this we hope to show that we are a courageous municipality that is open for new ideas and initiatives.

For more information see www.unsworn.org/telemegaphone or contact Unsworn Industries’ Erik Sandelin (+46 73 7038251, erik@unsworn.org) or Fjaler municipality’s Head of Culture: Ingeborg Tysnes (+47 57 738044, ingeborg.opdol.tysnes@fjaler.kommune.no).