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Sunndal celebrations: Talk about industrial culture!
(Nov. 5, 2004) On Thursday, Hydro marked the completion of the major remodelling and expansion project New Sunndal. Crown Prince Haakon hung a symbolic key on the wall, to represent the end of a long project period, and to indicate that the largest metal plant in Europe is now in regular operation. Afterwards there were celebrations - and it was quite a show!
 Crown Prince Haakon presided over the formal marking of the completion of the project and hung up a symbolic aluminium key. (All photos: Gisle Nomme) |
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It all started when the mayor unveiled a stone monument, a gift from the local authority, in front of the administration building. After this, anticipation rose among the several hundred adults and children who had arrived to welcome the Crown Prince.
When he arrived, he took time to greet several of the local people, before following Hydro's management in through the plant gate to the task for the day.
A tightly-packed programme
Crown Prince Haakon had allocated a whole day for the celebration at Sunndal, and after he had been told about the plant and the new investments, his first task was to preside over the formal marking of the completion.
This proceeded as follows: he was handed a symbolic key of aluminium, and was then lifted on an elevator to a board on the wall where two keys hung from before - representing the start of the two previous project phases. When the Crown Prince added the third key to the board, the final completion of the New Sunndal Project was marked.
Safeguarding the community
The whole of the Sunndal community depends on Hydro's aluminium operation. The NOK 5.5 billion investment Hydro has made in this plant, is, therefore, means just as much as a renewal of the Sunndal municipality as an industrial investment.
 Site manager Bjørn Berge explains the secrets of aluminium production to Crown Prince Haakon, President and CEO Eivind Reiten and Ellen Stange, head of the project. |
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The events on Thursday were therefore also an occasion for celebration for the whole of the local community. The plant, which has stood in Sunndal for 50 years, took this seriously and set up a top class cultural arrangement. The last part of the Crown Prince's visit was set aside to watch the show together with employees from the plant and other members of the public.
Industrial culture
As an overall celebration of the factory's fiftieth anniversary and the start-up of regular operations in Europe's newest and largest aluminium plant, Sunndal aluminium has produced a spectacular show and the premiere was on Thursday evening.
There was "industrial music", thundering drums, flames and sparks from metal cutters. A pop ballet performed in demolition structures, with stirring music, rope-climbing and trampoline dancers, took the audience's breath away.
The audience was enthralled by the thundering music, smoke and steam and the shadows of fabulous figures that came and went in the changing lighting.
The guest of honour, Crown Prince Haakon, also seemed to enjoy himself, as he followed the audience around the performance, smiling and waving.
A wandering audience
The show was arranged so that the audience wandered around looking at the presentation of Sunndal's growth from primary industrial society to today's hyper-modern industrial operations.
The audience was taken around the plant from happening to happening. It was an enormous production, with dozens of people involved, a children's choir, a band, drummers and actors in great numbers. It all took place in the dark of the evening.
There were solo performances on aluminium pipes and monologues on life as a worker at the plant, which engaged the audience. There is a strong tradition of theatre at Sunndal - this was a piece of industrial culture that was both absorbing and easy to relate to.
People recognized the day-to-day situations and dreams and felt they were swept away by the dramatic effects.
The setting, inside the plant, on the dark November evening, beneath heavy grey mountains, and with exciting lighting effects and surprises around every corner, produced a unique atmosphere. As one of the young employees put it:
"Brilliant, this is something to be proud of!"
And as a grand finale on the day of the royal visit: a tremendous, thundering firework display.
The performance KRAFT (POWER) will be played up to 9 November. This is a performance that should be seen by more than the many people who live in the aluminium valley of Sunndal. Why don't you go and see it too?
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