Telephone Project
This film is part of the TELEPHONE project. The project was just like the game. A message was whispered from one artist to another and changed as it was passed. A message was whispered from art form to art form. A message could become a painting, then music, then poetry, then dance. Each finished work of art was whispered to multiple artists so the game branched out exponentially. Halfway through the game, the process was reversed. Multiple artworks were assigned to a single artist and each artist was asked to find what the works have in common and to create a translation of that into their own art form. So — TELEPHONE began with one message, and that message passed through more than 900 artists from 72 countries and then concluded with a single artwork. The project web site was launched in April 2021.
The experience of working on this piece was challenging and represented somewhat of an emotional journey, for the text I was sent for a response made a strong impact on me, touching some raw and, to an extent, unresolved feelings. It was therefore initially hard to settle on a medium and to untangle layers of meaning in the work that was sent to me. I found it challenging to resolve my approach for my response, to address the complexities in the message I received and resolve its dualities. It was a productive and positive experience, which brought together both analytical and intuitive faculties, and I enjoyed that. I enjoyed emails with the artist, Maureen Alsop, whose work I was sent.
The singer is David Lightfoot.