On November 17th, 6pm to 9pm, I was one of the artists that participated in the FLOOD sound art event, LB SoundBrowse Heard. This was the latest in their series of sound art festivals going back to 2004 with Soundwalk (2004-2013) and Soundpedro (2014-present) sound art festivals which I assisted in promoting and documenting for many years. My installation was at the BayShore Congregational Church. and I shared the space with Phog Masheeen.
“Voices on the Line” is a sound art installation consisting of 14 fun or quirky analog telephones. Many are Radio Shack Fashion Fones or Conair phones from the 90s. They were connected to an 8-line ATA and many 2 line ATAs which were connected to a router which was connected to an Asterisk PBX on a Raspberry Pi 3. Each phone is accompanied by a little black book. As a modern society we may starting to question: why did we get rid of our traditional landlines? Was it because of all the unwanted solicitations and scam calls? Remember the time before this? We would mostly make and receive calls from people we know. You may dial extensions to hear various interactive recordings like 104 songs about making or receiving phone calls, historic speeches from 1940-2024 which you can access by dialing the 4-digit year, stories about the old phone system, and emulation of other classic quirky dial-up services. Who can you call? Pick up the phone and dial the famous 3 digits for information.
It was pouring rain that night so attendance was not great but it was a good chance to get some great feedback on the piece. Everyone thought is was great and I did not have to do too much explaining. Everyone just pulled up a chair and started looking through the little black book. Around 40 participants experienced the piece.
I had originally envisioned the piece at a park about a block away, and this is where I took a photo of many of the phones on a blanket, as seen in the last photo. Each phone would have been on a picnic blanket that participants could sit on or lay down on. However, not only was it after sunset at 6pm, there was very little street light and it was going to be very wet. But perhaps one day I will be able to set up the installation at a park.
At the OC Arduino + Raspberry Pi Electronics Makers Meetup on Dec 11th, 2025.
Showing co-workers at the office.
