no answer

saw this on the train this morning. it's times like these i wish i popped my head out of the books and was more attentive to melbourne's art culture whilst still at uni. i think this was a brilliant idea and i'm totally kicking myself for not being there to see it in action. they remind me of bugs, and the ringing somewhat resembles chirping of crickets. although, i'm sure that's not the effect they were going for. but hey, art is always open to your own interpretation. brilliant work from melbourne. 'tis why i love this city.

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No Answer (2006)
Martine Corompt & Philip Brophy
Photography by Greg Sims
Location Lush Lane

The enigma of the ringing public payphone. Who is calling, and who will answer?

A Melbourne lane-way. From the main street you hear the faint ringing of a public phone. As you near the mouth of the laneway, the ringing is clearer. It is not one phone: it sounds more like ten phones, chiming intermittently. Now standing at the mouth of the laneway, you see multiple public phones, each covered by their radiant dome, distributed across the laneway’s wall at varying heights. Some are positioned two stories high. All are inaccessible. You move down into the laneway. All the phones continue to chime intermittently, gently filling the spatial volume of the laneway space. Unable to reach or pick-up the receivers, you are left listening to the sound of ringing - the sound of no answer.

City of Melbourne Laneway Commission 2006

content source: moving galleries