Chelsea Leventhal

Home

Sound installation with Tesla T-65 telephones, each with an arduino, waveshield, and 1-channel audio.
2012
Home is a sound installation that explores the feelings of isolation and connection inherent in telephone conversation. The original hardware of each rotary telephone has been hacked and connected to a microprocessor, allowing artificial control of the phone’s functions. The bell of each phone is supplied with uneven bursts of electrical current, resulting in a ringing that is listless and stuttering, as if driven by a stubborn external force. When the visitor answers each phone and holds the receiver to their ear, they hear one side of a conversation from an anonymous individual that is digitally distorted to the point of unintelligibility. Although part of a forged representation, these fragments are given an illogical potential to tap into feelings of comfort and disappointment.