Print PDF
Favorite
Email
An art installation with a modified desk telephone that both facilitates and frustrates communication.
Using custom electronics and some simple microcontroller programming, you can hijack the normal function of a touch-tone phone, giving it a life of its own. The one described here was the central element of an office that was placed the gallery space. Visitors to the office would cause the phone to make two calls- one to the office itself, and one to a randomly selected number elsewhere in the country. The visitor to the gallery would answer the phone believing someone had called the office, often finding herself listening to one of the countless variations of "This number is no longer in service..." In other cases, he would hear a fax attempting to convert images into sound, or an outbound voicemail greeting for a person he did not know. If the visitor were lucky, or persistent, there would be another person on the other end- thinking the same thing as the visitor: "Someone has called me."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBMKwrQGtKw
This will not be the most comprehensive look at physical computing, electronics, or any of the techniques used. I hope to give a clear enough picture that you would have an easier time pulling this off than I did, and more importantly, give a sense of other possibilities for communicating with the devices we use to communicate with one another.
I recommend Dan O'Sullivan and Tom Igoe's book Phisical Computing as a basic reference. There are also plenty of other great 'ibles here that will get you going on art and electronics.
Using custom electronics and some simple microcontroller programming, you can hijack the normal function of a touch-tone phone, giving it a life of its own. The one described here was the central element of an office that was placed the gallery space. Visitors to the office would cause the phone to make two calls- one to the office itself, and one to a randomly selected number elsewhere in the country. The visitor to the gallery would answer the phone believing someone had called the office, often finding herself listening to one of the countless variations of "This number is no longer in service..." In other cases, he would hear a fax attempting to convert images into sound, or an outbound voicemail greeting for a person he did not know. If the visitor were lucky, or persistent, there would be another person on the other end- thinking the same thing as the visitor: "Someone has called me."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBMKwrQGtKw
This will not be the most comprehensive look at physical computing, electronics, or any of the techniques used. I hope to give a clear enough picture that you would have an easier time pulling this off than I did, and more importantly, give a sense of other possibilities for communicating with the devices we use to communicate with one another.
I recommend Dan O'Sullivan and Tom Igoe's book Phisical Computing as a basic reference. There are also plenty of other great 'ibles here that will get you going on art and electronics.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1The Things
You'll need the basics for any physical computing project, including but not limited to:
Tools:
-Screwdriver
-Wirecutter
-Pliers
-Multimeter
-Breadboard
-Soldering iron
-Hot glue gun
and this non-exhaustive list of:
Materials:
-Basic components-- resistors, LEDs (cheapo kinds are fine), 22 guage wire, solder, relays, FETs, circuit boards, electrical tape, other things I have forgotten
-Microcontroller (I used a Basic Stamp 2, though if I were doing it again, I'd use an Arduino)
-Old phone(s-- you'll be glad if you have spares to experiment)
-Variac (or other way to create ~90VAC from 110VAC)
-Electronic Ringer (new or scavenged) -- making a mechanical ringer ring separately is a project unto itself
-Thermostat wire
-Telephone wire.
Tools:
-Screwdriver
-Wirecutter
-Pliers
-Multimeter
-Breadboard
-Soldering iron
-Hot glue gun
and this non-exhaustive list of:
Materials:
-Basic components-- resistors, LEDs (cheapo kinds are fine), 22 guage wire, solder, relays, FETs, circuit boards, electrical tape, other things I have forgotten
-Microcontroller (I used a Basic Stamp 2, though if I were doing it again, I'd use an Arduino)
-Old phone(s-- you'll be glad if you have spares to experiment)
-Variac (or other way to create ~90VAC from 110VAC)
-Electronic Ringer (new or scavenged) -- making a mechanical ringer ring separately is a project unto itself
-Thermostat wire
-Telephone wire.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
http://www.tkk.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/telephone_ringer.html
Oddly enough I'm just finishing an installation for next week which has an old rotary phone which is triggered by a PIR sensor, mine then uses a phone tree and soundscapes though.
With mine to get the phone to ring the PIR is triggrering Max/MSP which plays a 25hz sine wave in the correct pulsing sequence, the audio output it then fed though a step up transformer to get it to the required voltage to trigger the mechanical bell.
Lovely idea though.
Owen.
just use one of these connected to the line in audio jack then set up some audio software that records automatically when it hears any kind of audible noise.
Hmm, talk of true randomnity has got me thinking- maybe you could wire one of these up to the local EGG machines, so they call 911/999/local emergency number when the randomness drops.
Of course, then you'd have a 911 operator talking to a bemused physicist trying to disentangle the collective consciousness of the human race from the fundamentally disordered nature of the cosmos, and I don't think that "existential/religious crisis" counts under "What is your emergency?".
/ramble
I wasn't entirely serious about the idea, especially in the context of random number generators controlling when the calls were made :) Just playing with ideas combining randomness and autodialers.
My phone dialed 911 by itself when it was in my pocket once.
Mine too! It's the fact that they make phones able to dial the emergency services even with the keypad lock on, in case someone needs to call but can't follow the "Press * then Unlock" instructions on the screen. It doesn't help that in this country it's 999, ie only one button to accidentally press.