The TELEPHONE GAME Is Now LIVE!
Long, Long Ago, On A Planet Far Away, Before The Pandemic…
This cool collaborative project called the TELEPHONE GAME comes into my sights. In fact, I read about it in the New York Times. Nathan Langston created and ran the first game of TELEPHONE, published in 2015. Due to the state of the world, he initiated the second game in March 2020. Nathan created an experiment of international collaboration that got larger than anyone of us could ever have imagined. In fact, it features over 900 artists from 72 different countries!
What A Herculean Task To Manage All Of Us!
I suspect, despite having managed a smaller group process in 2015, Nathan got WAY more than he bargained for. His call hit as we were hunkering down for this long pandemic. But, man! It really paid off. It was a fun, healing, life-giving experience to participate in this vast project. In truth, my artwork was inspired by other artists, even as mine has moved on to inspire others’ works!
How To Explore The Telephone Game
When you go to the Telephone website, there are multiple ways to interact: You can look up an artist directly, examine their work, process, bio and see a photo taken in their neighborhood. You can then follow the link at the top of the page to play the “Game.” When you start to play, you will find many, many more things to examine. It’s a little hard to describe, but do poke around. You will find diagrams with active nodes, active pop-ups to take you to antecedents and siblings or next generations! There are essays that do not have their own link to my knowledge yet, so here it is.
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My Contribution To The Telephone Game
So, what exactly do I have in this worldwide exhibit? BOOKISH TRANSITIONS. I made this piece in response to a turquoise painting and a photo-essay with poetry. These two antecedent artworks seemed to speak of both loss and hope, entropy and growth. You can read about my process here. My artwork is meant to remain “secret” until this publication. If you are one of the uber-observant followers of my work, you will recognize the piece as being part of the special online exhibition Bookish. Other than that, it remains quiet until today.
BOOKISH TRANSITIONS is a truly beautiful piece that seems to glow with an inner light. The choice of threads, purple, orange and light blue, create that glow. Truly, it is a dream to make! It has been as though it made itself: no errors, no missteps, no re-designs, no broken needles! It is a sculpture: a manipulatable book object, 20H x 42W x4D, $1200. I designed it to hang on the wall OR be set up and played with on a table. The wall fixture also features Velcro so you can remove it.
And, as if that is not enough…there is a 2 catalog set available for the Telephone Game. Now, with 900 artists, not everyone is included in the publication. Indeed, I have no idea if my piece is included. If we were all included, I’m not sure I could lift it! It will be delivering soon and you can order directly from Crosstown Press.
Catalogs are for sale at Crosstown Press
