Giuseppe Gavazza



Semafori/Lightouses - a part of Lighthouses Relay at Folkestone Fringe 20122 - is back in Bergen, Norway.
I am now presenting the installation in my studio as a part of my residence in AiR Project (Artist in Residence) of USF, Bergen, January-February 2012.

I have, in the frame of same concept, created a new audio work, Semafori2/Sirene, a sound installation running at the same time. From Tursday February 23 to Sunday February 26.

You can download pdf detailed info here:


here some info on local Norwegian newsletters and web sites:



Giuseppe Gavazza
Semafori II: Sireneat USF-AiR Studio2, Bergen February 23-26 2012
siren |ĖˆsŹŒÉŖr(ə)nĖ| : noun
1 a device that makes a loud prolonged sound as a signal or warning : ambulance sirens.
2 Greek Mythology each of a number of women or winged creatures whose singing lured unwary sailors onto rocks.
a woman who is considered to be alluring or fascinating but also dangerous in some way.
semaphore |ĖˆsɛməfɔĖ| noun
a system of sending messages by holding the arms or two flags or poles in certain positions according to an alphabetic code.”
(New Oxford American Dictionary)
English: lighthouse Italian: faro French: phare
Italian : semaforo English : traffic light French : feu
Semaforo comes from Greek ĻƒĪµĪ¼Ī± (signal, meaning) e Ļ†ĪµĻĻ‰ (in this case: to bring).
About Semafori (Lighthouse Relay, Folkestone Fringe Festival, August 2011) I wrote:
Every lighthouse has its own “voice”: his simple rhythm is its name and declare the position in which it is. Lighthouses are visual sirens (and in Italian sirena means both siren and mermaid), are visual and musical communicators for the navigators.
Sirens are warning audible signals: in the fog and in the dark for example.
Every ship has its own voice in its siren. The voices of mermaids bewitch.
Semafori, as a project, was thought up at Chateau de La Napoule during an Artist Residence in February 2000 and was realised at Folkestone Fringe in 2011. During the same residence at La Napoule I planned a project titled Sirene: mermaids vox captivate along the years, inexorable.
During the Artist Residence here in Bergen AiR-USF, January and February 2012, I can listen and see the Hurti Gruten ship arriving every day at Bergen, south terminal harbour of the cruise from north.
Arriving (almost) always they greet the town with a 4 sounds hello!
From Studio 2 at USF, Georgernesverft 12, Bergen (few metres from HurtiGruten terminal wharf) I have recorded the hellos! of all the eleven Hurti Gruten ships:

I have mounted these recordings in a unique audio files: in chronological order (as recorded) every ship 
punctuates the minutes of the 12 minutes long file.



0'00'' - Silence
1'00''- MS Nordnorge recorded on 1/23/2012
2'00''- MS Kong Harald recorded on 1/29/2012
3'00'' - MS VesterƄlen recorded on 2/1/2012
4'00'' - MS Nordkapp recorded on 2/2/2012
5'00'' - MS Richard With recorded on 2/6/2012
6'00'' - MS Polarlys recorded on 2/15/2012
7'00'' - MS Finnmarken recorded on 2/16/2012
8'00'' - Nordstjernen recorded on 2/18/2012
9'00'' - MS Nordstjernen recorded on 2/18/2012
10'00'' - MS Lofoten recorded on 2/21/2012
11'00'' - MS Midnatsol recorded on 2/22/2012
12'00'' - STOP






I have then performed - night time - this 12' audio file in the corridor, 3rd floor, out of the door of Studio2, with two loudspeakers, adding a double delay (of about 7 and 12 seconds, a simple Pure Data patcher) to create a slow audio feedback reinforcing more and more the natural resonances of the corridor (obviously the idea comes from Alvin Lucier's masterpiece I am sitting in a room, 1969).
When the 12' sound finish, in about 2 minutes, the resonances fade out to silence.
I have recorded all this 14' audio performance (on four channels with a Zoom H2 handy digital audio recorder) and I will diffuse it using a portable battery powered low power audio system (an iPod mp3 player and a Mitone MitSp20 stereo travel speakers) placed in the same place (close to the roof, on the door of Studio 2) of the recording digital recorder.

G.G. February 22nd 2012.

Warm thanks to USF AiR Bergen and Folkestone Fringe Festival
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