“Bunker Party?” is an installation by MiKi Lazar and Joshua Weitzel, concerning alarm systems and catastrophy warnings.
The work consists of four illuminated horn speakers, installed at the Weinberg in Kassel. At irregular intervals, the speakers emit a jingle, made up of adjacent semitones and played on an empty beer bottle. Occasionally, the same “melody” occurs in a higher, bell-like pitch: Now a real rocket is flying towards Israel and the spectators listen in real-time.
The jingle is made and owned by the NHK and used in Japanese television when earthquaques strike. This jingle was licensed to catastrophy warning systems all over the world, including the Israeli rocket alarm apps “Zeva Adom” and “Tsofar”, where it is the default alarm.
The Weinberg was originally a beer storage for the Hentschel family, which produced heavy industry and arms. During WW2, the bunker was converted into an air raid shelter and hosted the general commando of the armed forces. Bulletholes and remains of fighting are still visible.

The work is not a statement about the conflict in the middle east. For us, there is no way to not to condemn any deliberate or condoned civilian casualty. The work is but about the possibilities of listening in the digital age. We can whitness rockets flying in real-time while remaining ourselves unharmed. Having an alarm system app for air raids is also a privilege and many areas in the world have insufficient disaster warning systems.

Bunker Party? is about listening in empathy and compassion.

A second, amended, version, including the alarms in Ukraine was shown in the Exhibition “KlangLand24” in September 2024.

Photo top: Joshua Weitzel, JK Weitzel, photo left: Sebastian Schulze-von Hanxleden, Joshua Weitzel.