TELEPHONE

TELEPHONE is just like the kids’ game. A message is whispered from one person to another and changes as it is passed. We whisper a message from art form to art form. A message could become a painting, then music, then poetry, then dance. We whisper each finished work of art to multiple artists so the game branches out exponentially.

Our first game, published in 2015, involved 315 artists. Our second game, published in 2021, involved the original and interconnected work of almost 1000 artists from 488 cities in 73 countries. We expect third iteration to be many magnitudes more ambitious. Our team of designers, developers, engineers, and artists are hard at work to build the software required to host this epic endeavor. Currently, we expect to begin engaging artist participants in the summer of 2024, running for approximately one year, with an online exhibition launching in 2025.

Our last game of TELEPHONE is free to the public and exhibited at https://phonebook.gallery/

Critical Praise for TELEPHONE

TELEPHONE Theory Group

TELEPHONE is, first and foremost, an arts project and a community, connecting art forms and connecting strangers all over the world. But TELEPHONE can also be considered a massive experiment, studying subjects like ekphrasis, intersemiotic translation, neurological frameworks, art history, network structures, synthesis, as well as many other issues. Among numerous initiatives, one of the primary goals of TELEPHONE is to provide scholars in with real-world qualitative and quantitative data that will help move these fields forward.

In order to elegantly orchestrate this third game in a way that would provide maximum benefit, we sought the advice of scholars, thinkers, philosophers, translators, and artists from around the world. While this consortium of brilliant minds from institutions across the globe continues to grow, these are the earliest members:

Dr. Kobus Marais, University of Free State
Dr. Carolyn Shread, Mt. Holyoke College, Smith College
Dr. Michael Salcman, University of Maryland
Dr. Ana Vitorio, University of Free State
Professor Lee Boot, University of Baltimore
Martin Rosengaard, Founder, Wooloo.org
Katelyn Watkins, Operations Director, TELEPHONE
Madeline Hoak, Communications Director, TELEPHONE
Nathan Langston, Director, TELEPHONE

Over the course of two months, the TELEPHONE group convened informally four times. The wide-ranging and fascinating conversations lasted about six hours in total and the insights that came from our exchanges have significantly influenced the manner in which we are designing and building the third game of TELEPHONE.

TELEPHONE Theory Session 1: August 26, 2023

TELEPHONE Theory Session 1: August 26, 2023

TELEPHONE Theory Session 3: September 24, 2023

TELEPHONE Theory Session 2: August 27, 2023

TELEPHONE Theory Session 4: October 1, 2023

There are many more curatorial and theory essays, as well as videos of panel discussions, about our last game of TELEPHONE, which are available HERE in our last exhibition.

We look forward to keeping you updated about TELEPHONE as the game develops. For more news and insights, please follow us on Instagram at @telephone_community and on our Facebook group, Telephone - An International Arts Game