Between 2007-2011 the contemporary art institution le Palais de Tokyo (Paris) invited artists working with sound to propose a piece for their answerphone.
My piece, Miss Time, pays hommage to the first speaking clocks born in the early 1930s, who were in fact telephone switchboard ladies, chosen for their fine elocution and stamina, who every 15 seconds, 240 times an hour, mechanically told the time to an invisible audience, regardless if anyone called or not.
Each country had it’s telephone diva, known for her golden voice and accurate timekeeping. Sadly these marathon performances fizzled out in the sixties when technology made these Time Ladies redundant.

The répondeur project was curated by the journalist and critic Rahma Khazam & Claire Szulc. It included the following artists : Stephen Vitiello, Davide Balula, Sébastien Roux, Steve Roden, Christina Kubisch, Leif Elggren, Eric La Casa, Staalplaat Soundsystem, Thomas Köner, Ryoji Ikeda, Christophe Fiat, Pascal Broccolichi, Paul Panhuysen, Carl Michael Von Hausswolff, Bryan Saunders, John Giorno, Valérie Vivancos.

fiche projet en français : Miss Time_F