Submitted by richard on Wed, 2008-06-04 06:14.
“Tantalum Memorial – Reconstruction”
a new artwork by Harwood, Wright, Yokokoji
01SJ Biennial: “Superlight” at the San Jose Museum of Art
May 10th - August 31st, 2008
“Tantalum Memorial – Reconstruction” is the first in a series of telephony-based memorials by the artists group Harwood, Wright, Yokokoji. The title of the work refers to the metal tantalum, an essential component of mobile phones, and is a memorial to the Congolese who have died from wars over the mining of this metal. The work is constructed from redundant electromechanical Strowger switches - the basis of the first automatic telephone exchanges. Members of London's Congolese community trigger the switches when they make phone calls through “Telephone Trottoire” - a “social telephony” project also designed by the artists with the Congolese radio programme Nostalgie Ya Mboka. The precisely poised movements and sounds of the switches create a sculptural presence for this otherwise intangible network of circulating conversations. In “Tantalum Memorial – Reconstruction”, Harwood, Wright, and Yokoji weave together the ambiguities of globalisation, transnational migration and our addiction to constant communication.
The “Coltan Wars”
Since August 1998 there have been 3.9 million deaths and over 361,000 refugees created by the so-called “coltan wars” in the Congo region. Coltan ore is mined for the metal tantalum - an essential component of mobile phones and other communication devices that is now coveted by dozens of international mining companies and warring local militias. Although the conflict has continued up to the present day it remains almost entirely unknown outside of Africa.
Almon Strowger
Almon Brown Strowger was born in Penfield near Rochester, New York. An
undertaker by profession, he believed that the wife of a rival undertaker who worked at his local telephone exchange was routing customers through to her husband. His automatic telephone exchange made it possible to call someone directly instead of going through a human operator. The invention, patented on the 10th March 1891, is thought responsible for the conceptualization of modern telephone networks. His switches were in service until the 1990s when they were replaced by digital technologies made from tantalum.
“Telephone Trottoire”
“Telephone Trottoire” is a “social telephony” network aimed at the Congolese community in London, approximately 90% of whom are refugees or asylum seekers. In the Congo, where free speech has been censored for over forty years, people spread information while standing on street corners – by “radio trottoire” or “pavement radio”. Produced by the artists in collaboration with the Congolese radio programme “Nostalgie Ya Mboka”, “Telephone Trottoire” calls people up and invites them to pass around stories or topical news items over their phones.