Legs still sore after the amazingly exhausting mounting expedition and subsequent daily mountaintop debugging sessions we were happy to finally slip into our finest suits, cut that ribbon and officially reveal the Telemegaphone Dale’s phone number.

A small crowd of Dale inhabitants had gathered in the garden of the Nordic Artists’ Centre, located on top of Dalsåsen hill between the village down by the fjord and the Bergskletten peak looming to the southwest. The Telemegaphone were visually present as a tiny silhouette in the distance and magnified in a telescope.

Bora Yoon Tele-performance

After a poignant opening speech by nkd-director Elísabet Gunnarsdottír the Telemegaphone Dale received a call by Brooklyn-based musician and sound artist Bora Yoon who performed a 5-minute Telemegaphone Concerto, prepared for the occasion. As Bora’s beautiful voice softly filled the valley people stood quiet, watery-eyed and listened. It was really quite touching.

A woman said the sounds reminded her kuling (old-style cow calling) and Norwegian traditional singing.

Åsa Ståhl recorded Bora Yoon’s performance onsite at Dalsåsen, 3 kilometers from the Telemegaphone. Crank up your volume and listen:

Dale Got the Number First

We handed out the phone number, written on small business cards, to the people from Dale - half an hour before the rest of the world would have access to it.

People eagerly forwarded the number to friends and relatives, and shortly afterward a deep, male voice sang a slow, sad tune. Everyone looked at each other to see who was the caller. Everyone shrugged. The Telemegaphone was no longer in our control.

Half an hour later we clicked the upload button, published the phone number online, and waited for the world to enter.