AgoraPhone

Abstract

AgoraPhone is a communications sculpture combining private and public social mores. Utilizing the existing telephone infrastructure, AgoraPhone allows people to call from any phone anywhere and engage the installation's physical public space. This thesis describes the process of designing, making, and installing the project, as well as some observations of AgoraPhone in use. The work is in relation to the culture's contemporary zeitgeist that reflects a society of people who on the one hand highly value a private lifestyle, and on the other hand produce and subscribe to a media culture which is characterized by extreme sacrifice of privacy; the push-pull relationship of private and public life establishes the setting for AgoraPhone.