Telephone Story

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts and The Kitchen, in New York, commissioned the artist in 2001 to create a sound and video self-portrait to be exhibited in their 2001-02 exhibition "ID/Entity:  Portraits of the Twentieth Century."   Her concept was that of a self-portrait as told through telephone messages she had received and collected over the preceding several years.  By listening to her messages, the viewer could glean much about her life and relationships, and hence, about her.

The interface was a large glass wall, approximately 6 feet wide by 4 feet high, behind which was rear projected video.  The wall was fitted with special sensors to detect frequencies of knocking or tapping.  The interface image featured a close-up of the artist's desk placed in front of her library; on the desk were her tools, her laptop computer, and photos and correspondence from her mother.  Objects within this interface were subtly animated, and each object represented a personal relationship or set of relationships.  When the viewer knocked or tapped on an object, the object would appear to dissolve and then fade to black, and a set of telephone messages would begin playing along with a companion video.  For example, knocking or tapping on a letter from her mother would bring up a set of telephone messages she had received from her, along with video complementing the audio.

While the video/audio played, the viewer could continue interacting with the surface.  If they tapped or knocked, an image of the person speaking would suddenly appear at the spot where they tapped - the image would spin slowly, then float off and disappear.  Knocking harder would make the image spin faster, and banging the wall with a fist would bring up an array of images of the person, which would disappear after a few moments.  After the message/video ended, the image would fade to black and the desk interface reappeared.

While the MIT/Kitchen piece was interactive, the artist also exhibited the audio/video component at other venues as a single channel video. 

Another interactive version of this piece was recreated and updated for exhibition at the 2007 Ingenuity Festival in Cleveland, Ohio.