title>   Call

medium>  intervention using vintage telephone modified with programmable microcontroller and custom circuitry. Edition of 2

date>   2006

credits>   electronic circuit design and technical assistance by Gordon Hicks

description>
A vintage telephone (resembling a direct taxi-line or service-centre phone) sits on a countertop in a public place accessible to a wide range of people. The phone's dial has been replaced with an LCD screen that informs the viewer that when he picks up the receiver he will be connected with a random participant. Each time the handset is lifted, the phone dials at random one of the project participants, who have agreed to receive calls and have conversations with strangers at all hours of the day. The volunteer participants, from a wide variety of backgrounds and communities, will have been solicited through a variety of local media and means. The interactions are not recorded or otherwise determined in any way, so the project is perpetuated and disseminated fundamentally through oral history.

presentations> MKG127 Summer 2007; ZeroOne San Jose / ISEA 2006, Ottawa Art Gallery 2006

Feedback
Email anecdotes about Call to call@germainekoh.com.

Some anecdotes / oral history / observations
MKG127, Toronto, 30 June- 1 September 2007

D, 30.6.07 (during exhibition opening): "they keep calling and when they hear a real voice they hang up."

Dave, 1.7.07: "Your piece was really nice. I spoke with a J__ who said she hoped to meet sexy guys on the phone. Asked if I was one and if I was into women. I used the word 'wife' for maybe the 2nd or 3rd time in my life."

Some anecdotes / oral history / observations
ZeroOne San Jose / ISEA 2006, 8-13 August 2006

13 volunteers, averaging 3-4 calls/day.

S, 15.8.06: "after talking to several callers i realized people were very friendly but unsure of what to talk about. everyone would immediately talk about the phone... after about ten to twenty calls, i couldn't handle it. someone called and tried to talk about the phone and so i interrupted them and asked them to tell me the strangest or most useful fact they know. the lady couldn't do it, so i told her that when being strangled to death by a 20 foot python you can pour hot water on it and it will release its coils. i guess usually people aren't around a glass of hot water while being strangled by a snake, but the fact did loosen our conversation up. the lady told me ghiradelli's chocolate company was started with only 6 pounds of chocolate and we talked about various physical laws... the next person who called got me on a day off. she started in english, but switched to japanese and it made things pretty awkward because i'm half japanese but can't speak any. she switched from english to japanese and back several times and then asked me how i'm doing. i responded with 'to be honest i'm confused.' she asked why and i decided to be further honest 'well, you're speaking in english and japanese, i'm not sure if you're two people, i'm stoned and i just want to get some panda express.' by her reaction i would say she was definitely my age and probably in a similar demographic. she was with three friends and we all talked for about half an hour. i'm not sure, but i felt flirted with... no one was ever rude, but one girl did call and say 'seven days' and hung up. which apparently is from a horror movie that i haven't seen -- and so i missed the joke. i noticed the times i didn't answer my phone, people would leave very strange messages. they were either complete jokes or confused people unsure of what to say rambling and making odd sounds."

G, 11.8.06: In the six or seven calls I got yesterday, I talked to a seven-year-old girl, a very mature-sounding 14-year-old girl, and a man who sounded quite a bit older than me, who told me how it was for him to be unemployed for more than two years after the dotcom bust. These reminded me -- a single thirty-something self-employed person -- how little daily interaction I have with people outside my own age group.

J, 10.8.06: "Got the funniest message tonight from the Call phone - some guy said, 'Hi there, I just wanted to tell you your voice is really sexy, so I'll be thinking of you when I go to sleep tonight.' Ha ha, made my day!"

M, 29.8.06 [excerpt]: "I received 14 calls, 10 I answered and 4 left messages...
   "7. Male. Told me he was from Bakersfield, CA, he sounded confused > about everything around him.
   "8. Female. Teenager from Belgium visiting her aunt in CA. She loves America and when she returns to Belgium she always takes store bought Starbucks Frappuccinos home with her because you can't get them in Belgium.
   "9. Male. A worker in the museum cafe, sounded Hispanic, he was interested in what the project was all about.
   "10. Male. I answer, a man says a few things then hands phone to a woman who says something to him then hangs up.
   "11. Male. Member of the Museum, this was his second visit to the show, he didn't know about the phones on his first visit.
   "13. Male. 76 year old grandfather from Florida visiting his grandchildren in San Jose. He complained about how he would rather be at home but his daughter dragged him to the museum. Then we talked about the beginning of hurricane season. He was funny.
  "14. Female. Professor from Newcastle, England, works in the new media department of a university. She was very interesting to talk to, I gave her some travel advice if she was to visit San Francisco. Mostly to avoid the Matthew Barney show but not to miss the Gees Bend Quilt exhibit at the deYoung. She was very pleasant.
  "It seemed as if the female callers where more comfortable talking to a stranger than the males. Everyone was nice, the questions to me ranged from "Where do you live?" to "Are you cute?" I most enjoyed talking to the teenage girl from Belgium because of her curiosity, the older man from Florida because he was funny, and the woman from England because of her accent and her knowledge of things I was also interested in."

A, 9.8.06: "This has really been fun. Almost all the callers are very disingenuous and sweet. I've had several leave messages when I've been unable to answer. So far only one guy has left me his phone number! Tonight I had a very nice chat with one of the caterers, who had brought his 6 month old daughter to the light show. We talked until his boss came by. One guy asked if I were answering a phone in a museum too."

Germaine: I find it interesting that in the 15 or so calls I took over the first four days of this electronic art festival, only two of the people who called were involved in visual or media arts. What might this reveal about how an 'expert' audience interacts with such a project?

A: Many people simply say hello and then pause after she answers -- as if they were the ones answering the phone rather than initiating the call, or as though they were expecting her to launch into a performance.

Some anecdotes / oral history / observations
Ottawa Art Gallery, 24 August-22 October 2006

M is blogging about the experience here. An excerpt:
   "...my science/quality assurance background is asserting itself a bit. This is open-ended, because there is no definite intial hypothesis, plus there is not really any systematic method to gather data - no recordings, no forms, no surveys ...if more metrics are added, does art then become a social sciences experiment? Or can it be both?...
   "Gallery opening was tonight... Shortly after the opening speeches the calls started, and most were quite interesting. It was a pretty noisy location, with the phone in the crowded hallway outside the gallery rooms, but conversations were remarkably relaxed. And during normal hours it will be a nice area for a chat, end of the hall, phone on a table, chair by it... Of the 6 or so calls I got in the evening, most seemed young, and all quite willing to chat. It is conversation between strangers, but there's the comfort of anonymity the phone gives. One caller did ask if I was the guy that had just told him to f**k off, I said no but if he wanted abuse he could call again and press '2'."

P: Got one creepy call from a digitally altered voice asking for his mother's maiden name.

R: Most callers so far want to know why he's doing this. One guy quite obnoxious and condescending. R might try to come up with appropriate way to respond to inappropriate behaviour.