CALL CENTER

Beretta's hyperbolised pistol shape - the model popularised in James Bond films - which was produced by assembling 168 black telephones, targets the violence inherent in the mass communications. Its title seems to evoke the manipulation and dehumanisation that are characteristic in many call centres. No matter how noble the reason for its use, a gun is never free of its aggressive charge; likewise, mass communication - large-scale, standardised, monitored and exploitative - can be an exercise in violating the subject's infinite singularities. Meeting Joana Vasconcelos' challenge, the musician Jonas Runa composed an electro acoustic symphony for telephone ringers, which have been turned into a musical instrument through modifications allowing different notes to be produced. Some of the suspended headsets and, above all, a powerful speaker installed inside the barrel of the gun are the vehicles of the electronics that transport us to a dissonant environment. Call Centre brings together everyday objects from a specific time, combines them with sound and, through ingenious operations of displacement, offers us an open and multidimensional work.

CALL CENTERCALL CENTER
© Luís Vasconcelos
CALL CENTERCALL CENTER
© Luís Vasconcelos
CALL CENTERCALL CENTER
© Luís Vasconcelos
Artwork Details
PRODUCTION DATE
2014-2016
MATERIALS
Analogue telephones
Metallized and thermo-lacquered mild steel
Sound system
Oscillators driven by microcontroller
DIMENSIONS
210 x 80 x 299 cm
MUSIC
Electroacoustic Symphony for 168 Phones, composed by Jonas Runa, 20'
COLLECTION
Tia Collection
Artwork exhibited at
BeyondBeyond
07/03/2020 > 09/01/2022Beyond
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Joana Vasconcelos: I'm Your MirrorJoana Vasconcelos: I'm Your Mirror
29/06/2018 > 11/11/2018Joana Vasconcelos: I'm Your Mirror
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