Bye Bye Bryggen: A soundwalk into Bergen's climate future.
The year is 2072, and the worst storm in two hundred years is about to hit Bergen, on the west coast of Norway. In Bergen, a family's future is forever changed when the storm alarm sounds. As the storm thrashes, the family rush to save their family shop in Bryggen. What happens next is the result of many decades of decisions: did we work together, or did the lines of conflict become even deeper? That’s up to you to decide.
Climate change forces us to make difficult choices as a society, and this story helps us put those choices into perspective. What is worth protecting and at what cost? How can we reduce suffering and save lives as the climate crisis intensifies? And how will our decisions shape both people’s lives and the environment around us?
Today, progress on both emission reductions and climate adaptation is moving far too slowly. We believe that stories like Bye bye Bryggen can engage people emotionally, deepen understanding, and spark the important conversations we urgently need.
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What is the story about?
In Bye Bye Bryggen we meet teenager Tonje in the year 2100. She has been assigned a school project to interview relatives about a historic event in Bergen. She decided to do the project on the winter storm of 2072. She knows little about this storm, because nobody in her family talks about it; her grandfather and his sister are still arguing about who’s to blame for what. However, as we listen to the interviews with relatives and visit Bryggen, we follow Tonje as she finds out what really happened that night. Along the way, we learn about different ways to adapt society and help reduce the damage caused by climate change.
How speculative is the story?
Click here to access our Ministry of Imagination where we've collected background research and further reading on some of the topics covered in Bye Bye Bryggen.
Soundwalk
An innovative and immersive experience designed to enhance public understanding of climate research and imagined future scenarios.
What is a soundwalk?
In a soundwalk, your smartphone is both narrator and guide. Through GPS, the story moves forward as you move between locations.
What kind of future does the listener encounter?
There are an infinite number of possible futures, and every decision we make today affects the future to come. The listener chooses between two possible futures in Bye bye Bryggen. One involves cooperation, compromise and a high regard for nature and human life. In the other, today’s lines of conflict have become even deeper, resulting in inadequate climate policies. Both stories have the same main characters, but the endings are dramatically different. Bye bye Bryggen isn’t a forecast, it’s an engaging tale where listeners can experience the effects of climate change—and they have to decide whether the methods, solutions and speed are desirable.
How does the soundwalk work?
There are several versions of Bye Bye Bryggen. It’s available in both Norwegian and English, and you can either listen to it in Bergen or in another location. For the best experience, it’s best to listen to the story by the sea, but of course, you can listen from home as well. You use your own mobile phone and headphones to listen to it. Download the Climaginaries app for free and it is available on both Android and iOS. Make sure your phone is fully charged, put on some comfortable shows and find the starting point by the fish market in Bergen (or anywhere you plan to listen).
Who made Bye Bye Bryggen
The project group consists of:
From the University of Bergen
- Project leader: Judith L. Reczek Dalsgård, Communications manger, CET
- Jakob Grandin, City of Bergen and UiB
- Håvard Haarstad, Professor and Director, CET
- Janne Bjørgan, PhD Candidate, CET
Project partners:
- Fredrik Pålsson, Umami Produktion
- Johannes Stripple, Lund University
- Jørn Lavoll, Production in Bergen
Reference group:
- Hege Bekke-Alisøy, World Heritage Coordinator, City of Bergen
- Kari Anne Klovholt Drangsland, Researcher, UiB
- Kristin Richter, Researcher, NORCE & Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
Voice Actors
Tonje: Anabelle Berge-Alver
Emil: Bjørn Willberg Andersen
Nora: Elisabeth Moberg
Bente: Kristin Barsnes
Narrator: Tore Christian Sævold
Lærer: Iben Pedersen Vestrheim
Elev: Oda Langholm
Various: Kristine Alida Grønsdal Netteland
News reporter & VR cube: Elise Berg-Hansen