Gian Pablo @ ITP

I really dislike cellphones. Since they don't allow sharing a context with your callers, often calls come in at the wrong time, and then the quality of the communication is very poor. A lot of conversations are either establishing context, eg. "where are you?" or clarifying misunderstandings eg. "what did you say? I didn't catch that?" or even trying to see if the communication is still working eg. "hello? hello? are you there?".

I was thinking of building an installation around this theme:

Build some kind of booth, featuring a phone that will call anywhere (using VoIP or something) for free. The downside is that calls are filtered through a software system that introduces distortion: stuttering, pitch shifting, delays, etc.

The distortion can be reduced by manipulating physical controls (levers, dials, etc) that require some concentration, and force, to operate.

This will encourage reflection on the subject of "how hard are you willing to work to make yourself heard" and "how much energy does it take to really communicate".

Perhaps there is room to record the conversation and evaluate how much is overhead, focused on the quality of the medium, versus convesation, the "content" of the medium.