Site-specific light artwork Transmission by Aleksandra Stratimirovic
for World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station, Sweden
Commissioned by the Varberg municipality
Winner of the competition arranged by Varberg municipality
Completed February 2020
Grimeton Radio Station is an early longwave transatlantic wireless telegraphy station built in 1922-1924 that has been preserved as a historical site. It is the only remaining example of an early pre-electronic radio transmitter technology called an Alexanderson alternator. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004, as an outstanding monument representing the process of development of communication technology.
I visited Grimeton Radio Station for the first time, in connection with this assignment, and was taken by the site’s industrial beauty and it’s ingenious history. My first thought was to create a work that highlights the greatness of Radio Station’s imperceptible history. I wanted to add an unexpected element, a surprising moment, that is perceptible from the long distance and that makes visible the radio station’s invisible activities in a poetic and inspiring way.
The installation consists of two laser projections mounted at the height of 127m, on the top of the one of the Radio Station’s colossal towers. Green laser beams make the Radio Station’s imaginary communication visible. Light movement in the form of varying frequencies transmits messages in slow rhythmic sequences, pulsating in the Morse code intervals. Transmission speaks the same language that Grimeton Radio Station communicated with. The light beams turned into words convey messages that are based on UNESCO’s work that encourages international peace, universal respect for human rights and equitable and sustainable development.
… p e a c e, f r i e n d s h i p, l o v e, l i f e, e q u a l i t y, d i v e r s i t y, r e s p e c t, c u l t u r e, a r t, k n o w l e d g e, e d u c a t i o n, f r e e d o m o f s p e e c h, h u m a n r i g h t s, s c i e n c e, e n v i r o n m e n t, s u s t a i n a b l e d e v e l o p m e n t, i n t e r c u l t u r a l d i a l o g u e, s o c i a l s c i e n c e, e c o l o g y, h o p e…
Projections appear sporadically, ones or twice a month, and are visible on the night sky over the World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station in a few miles radius.
