Inter//Connected repurposes the aesthetics of a regional quilt pattern into a 9-block communication network composed of 16 outdoor public telephones wired into a continuous party line. Intended for deployment during a regional festival in Sauk County, Wisconsin, where 30,000 attendees from both rural and urban backgrounds converge, this unrealized installation sought to reanimate the street corner as a site of spontaneous conversation and conviviality between strangers. Each phone sat atop a kitchen table printed with vinyl street maps of the quilted network, merging domestic familiarity with civic infrastructure. The tables doubled as public rest stations and informal social nodes, where strangers could speak across distance through shared analog circuitry. Drawing on military radio wiring techniques, the system’s technical underpinnings formed a connective tissue of conviviality. Though fully validated in the studio, the project was ultimately cancelled due to pandemic-related restrictions, leaving behind only the speculative blueprint of its public intimacy, and an inventory of hardware awaiting a repurposed future.
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DATE: 2019
MATERIALS: ad hoc party-line telephone network to be deployed during a rural festival
SCALE: urban design
DIMENSIONS: 9-city blocks
SITE: Sauk County, Wisconsin
STATUS: unrealized
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