Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts

Listen to Trollofon radio 2020 at mixlr.com/pilotafm here.

The Trollofon was started by Nicholas H. Møllerhaug and Espen S. Eide in 2001, with the goal of conveying experimental music in a new way – through the active use of one of the veteran trolleybuses in Bergen as a concert venue and an internet radio on BEK’s server as a communication channel. It soon became clear that the goal also had to be focused on saving the last trolleybuses in the Nordic countries, since the local politicians in Bergen were threatening to close line 2, the only remaining trolleybus line. The very first Trollofon was a work of activism, inviting both press and local politicians to open their eyes to the uniqueness of the trolleybuses. It was a success and helped to turn the political tide and secure the trolleybus operation later that year. In 2002, Nicholas and Espen, in collaboration with Festpillene, developed the concept of the Trollofon into an annual music festival that ran until 2006.

The trolleybuses run on electricity, as is well known, and the musicians connected the music system and electronic instruments directly to the trolley’s powerline. Along the way, with concerts that also required power, there were interactions between the music and the speed of the trolley bus and the ability to accelerate climbs. And all the time with an imminent danger of shorting the entire network and all the buses in Bergen. It usually went wrong – something the audience really appreciated. Some rumours are still circulating of smoke-filled stops in Kalfarveien.

The Trollofon was visited by many of the greatest experimental artists from the 2000s from Norway and abroad, such as Pita, Oval, Alog, Kim Hiorthøy, Fennesz, Tujiko Noriko, Francisco Lopez, Goodiepal, Biosphere, Haco, Alexander Rishaug, Jaap Blonk, Maja Ratkje, Sagor & Swing, Fm3, Janek Schaefer, Sanso-xtro, Felix Kubin, Next Life, Nes, Lasse Marhaug, Dat Politics, Emi Maeda, Anton Nikkelâ, Oren Ambarchi, Alexei Borisov, and many more.

About Så jævla sanntid (So damn real-time)

In 2020, BEK is celebrating its 20 year anniversary and throughout the year we will present a number of different projects – both new artistic projects and a selection from our archive. First up is Så jævla sanntid (So damn real-time) 2020 – a series where we explore various digital formats and show them online. In the coming months, we will publish these artistic projects on bek.no.

Today, in this different version of everyday life, many of our actions, interactions and experiences have moved to digital platforms. A lot of activity – meetings, concerts, teaching, gaming, exhibition visits, lectures and more – happens in real-time: the actual time in which a process or event occurs. In the year 2000, strong and reliable Internet, as well as free hosting for artists’ websites, were key reasons for the creation of BEK. These services enabled entirely new forms of collaboration, which could take place in real-time over the Internet. In 2000, BEK organised the workshop Så jævla sanntid, exploring real-time video processing and this culminated in a live, real-time video jam. Back then, everything was ‘so damn real-time’, in other words – real-time was the new hype. Right now, many of us may want more of a physical reality than the one that occurs in ‘so damn real-time’ over the web. We are looking forward to presenting arts and technology projects from BEK digitally, and to seeing you all IRL again!

And speaking of hosting and streaming services these days: Did you know that the very first Vimeo server was stationed at BEK?

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A one-week workshop focusing on the technical and artistic/creative aspects of the ‘NATO’ software for real-time video processing. Led by Hans Christian Gilje. The workshop culminated in an all-night video jam at the Akademiske Kvarter.
– from BEK’s annual report 2000

Please find more Så jævla sanntid events here.
Poster design by Luke Drozd.