PHONE BOX
(OSLO 2017)Cue two strangers. They have a telephone conversation - anonymous, nameless, faceless. One of them speaks of recent deaths in her family, the other commiserates and talks about the healing process of communal grieving. They have never met, nor are they likely to.
Phone Box was an interactive performance work in which several one-to-one conversations took place over several days in Oslo. Participants were invited to step into the phone box and pick up the phone, where a Stranger was waiting on the other end of the line to speak with them. The Strangers would then open with a personal story before asking the Participants questions to engage them in conversation.
THE STRANGERS:
Y talks about a traumatic experience in which a girl she was partying with died of a drug overdose and how her perception of time was altered.
K reflects on how language has shaped his awareness of gender and reveals others’ changing perception of him as a transgender person.
D talks about the death of her grandfather and the conflict she feels between the community-based life he lead and her own more individualistic pursuits.
M recounts the public shaming of her friend who fell pregnant and was expelled for it, then muses over different forms social control.
L talks about bullying she endured in school, how it affected the way she saw herself and how her art education later helped her come to terms with herself.