03 HYDROPHONE

DOC 234—34/2

DEUS: 088/26812—81
REX-13: 978-0882681/283

What does our climate future sound like? The Hydrophone connects you directly to the Chief Meteorologist of @weatherishappening, with a special message from the year 2200. The Weather Man provides the gift of foresight, placing calls across time and space and urging modern humans to “repent” before climate change destroys the planet.

As humans’ runaway use of carbon causes local weather to become more extreme, outposts like this phone booth represent beacons of information that exist out of time with the syndicated messaging of mass media. Visitors can enter the phone booth and pick up incoming calls to be connected with the Weather Man. They can communicate their own visions for what Somerville 2200 might be like through words or drawings. The Hydrophone serves as both confessional and portal into future worlds that compels the voice on the other end to react (before it’s too late).

The Hydrophone rang every 10 minutes on the sidewalk in front of the Somerville Museum in Somerville, Massachusetts for the duration of the Triple Decker Ecology exhibition, and was featured in the Boston Globe.

The Hydrophone was created by Kate Sokol, Marc Davenport and @weatherishappening. We used the existing handset speaker and old bell that was part of this Bell payphone acquired from a library. When we ran the code for this project, it was the first time the bell rang in at least 20 years. We rigged the hammer to hit the bell using Raspberry Pi.

katesokol · Phone from the Climate Future

katesokol · Bell Telephone Analog Ring