Collect
Call was conceived in June 2005, devised throughout
the summer, and performed for the first time
on the 2nd of October 2005 at the University
of Kent, Canterbury. It was followed by an
installation on the 12th of November in which
all documents were exhibited.
The
performance, a durational event on a national/international
scale, was aimed at three different audiences.
Audience#1
experienced the performance over the telephone
(numbers were collected through advertisements
on the internet).
Audience#2
witnessed the calls being made.
Audience#3
explored the documentation of the process
in an installation.
Any
one person could of course be part of all
three audiences. In its premiere the performance
lasted 5 hours and a half without a break
(18:00 – 23:30), reaching as far as
Finland, Ohio and Singapore. These are records
we hope to break soon.
Aiming
to explore presence and absence, our expectations
when communicating via telephone, the vulnerability
of intimacy, and alternative roles for the
audience (spectators/participants); Collect
Call was a non-narrative exploration of loneliness,
technology, distance, intimacy and the power
of fiction.
We
waited for the tone. We dialled. We desperately
clung to conversation. We lied. We left messages.
We hang up and were hung up on. Every possible
accident that may happen during a phone call…
What happens when the phone rings? What if
you don’t pick up? What if you do? Where
will you be? How will the call affect you?
How long will we be able to keep going?
Audience
comments:
“My
heart was pounding like it only ever does
when I think I'm about to die (getting knocked
off my bike in heavy traffic, having to do
an emergency stop on the motorway, that sort
of thing) and I was quite stunned for several
moments afterwards” Paul
Hurley, Cardiff
“It
reminded me that acting was a wonderful thing
to be involved in as it can enliven any situation
- but as the caller got more panicked about
my lack of breathing and words - it became
quite disturbing - to think that someone was
getting that worked up about my absence –
in fact so much so that I had to delete the
message - even though it had not finished.”
Lisa Payne, Harrow
“Afterwards
I felt as though I had been part of something
worthwhile. On the Monday morning I was in
my office and found voicemail with this voice
telling me they were missing me, thinking
about me, that I was in their thoughts. I
recognised the voice as the caller of the
previous evening.” Mark
Goggins, Preston
“It
wasn't till the next day when I got your feedback
form that I remembered what I had signed up
for. I've always liked prank calls, the way
they make the mind race, searching for who
might be thinking of you; whether they chose
you at random or not. Thank you”
Jen Mitas, London
“…with
maybe someone dodgy downstairs. It took a
few minutes before it clicked that this was
a 'performance,' not some guy who actually
needed help. It was strangely intimate but
also remote - disembodied voices talking across
3000+ miles of water and wire.”
Valerie Lucas, Ohio
“...surprised,
disturbed, touched, your answer phone message
affected me...was so personal...was just the
message I want to receive...but not from you...
was a message of want...of love...made me
cry...because of my own state of mind at the
moment...” Ele
Forsyth, Canterbury
