Friday, September 09, 2016
A Walkie-Talkie Tunnel 'Through the Earth' Connects LA & Hong Kong
The Creators Project: If you’ve ever dreamt of digging a hole to China, you might want to check out this earth-piercing walkie-talkie installation. Scream Through Earth is a playful, site-specific project that creates a line of communication between Los Angeles and Hong Kong by pairing a speaker and a microphone on either sides of the earth with a very convincing tin can connection. Below, in a short video feature for the project, you can watch groups of pedestrians in China chat with people on Venice Beach.
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It's pretty hard to watch this video without a smile on your face. Installations like these prove to us that despite all the advances in technology, with a little showmanship and theatricality, even the smallest and most normal things are fantastical. This is basically just a telephone call between Hong Kong and Las Angeles. It's not even as advanced as a Skype call; you can't see the people you're talking to. But for some reason, when you introduce the element of childlike curiosity and make people remember when they were kids and tried to dig their way to China, it becomes something much more amazing. The video was the best part of this article; watching old and young people alike light up as they realized that they were communicating with someone on the other side of the world was truly magical. I loved how everyone had a different thing they wanted to "shout" to the other side of the world, and how they overcame the language barrier in unique ways. Again, this was just a telephone call. Literally anyone could do this at any point during the day. But for some reason, when you stage it as something exciting, it means much more than just a phone call.
This is such an incredible and playful installation.Its reminds me of portals or something out of Burning Man. I find the different images of the tube to be entertaining. The industrial combined with the red in china and the green natural look of the US. I am curious how they prevent vandalism and theft. Also The China looked to have plenty of foot traffic but I the US one looked a little low traffic. So I think it would be awkward if there was no one to respond from the other side of the world. Other than that I would love to go holler to the other side of the world. I hope from the bottom of my heart that they get to do a permanent installation.
At first I thought this was kind of silly because we already can talk to the other side of the earth with phones and the internet, but watching people’s reactions was priceless. They were all so surprised when someone answered them. Without having to know who to call, these people could talk to each other while being on the other side of the world. It’s so simple and playful. I thought the technology they used would be more complex- that they would try not to use the simple technology of a phone because they were trying to mimic a walkie talkie, but that’s exactly what they did. It’s just a simple phone call in the guise of a pipe. Having this as a permanent installation- maybe in multiple countries that are opposite or near opposite of each other- would be so much fun and a cause for tourism and learning. Though I do wish they would have put the american one in a more traffic heavy area as there was only one or two people at the beach but whole families in china. Overall I just love this idea.
When you think about how easy it is to talk to people on the other side of the world, the extra apparatuses that are used to make this project seem pointless. But on the other hand, just because it is simple to talk to someone on the other side of the earth, it doesn’t mean we do. I think this project is a great idea because he gives people an excuse to talk to people they will probably never meet. The concept of a hole through the earth that people can talk through is something that people really do fantasize about, and although that is not really practical, this idea of bringing the concept to life is really exciting. With modern technology there have to be thousands of childhood ideas that can actually work, but maybe in a different way then originally thought of. For example, it is impractical to fill your house with 5 inches of hot lava, but with some VRglasses, kids can hop from chair to sofa and enjoy what they used to pretend…I just hope that doesn’t kill imagination, but I guess imagination is what creates these ideas in the first place.
Wow that was so cool. People have always joked about digging a hole to China and these people made it kind of possible through sound. It is crazy to see them connecting people across the entire globe. It is a very interesting way for people to connect for the limited time they are standing over the “hole”. It is connecting the two cultures and letting people talk to people they will never meet and probably never would have spoken to them at all in their lives. It will be interesting to see how people react when they connect Berlin with Nouméa because they are even more different culturally than LA and Hong Kong. The people in Nouméa might not have that much experience with technology like they would in Hong Kong, LA, and Berlin because it is a more rural and less developed area. It made me smile to watch all of those different people talk to each other across the whole planet.
This is so sweet, charming, and surprisingly meaningful. How amazing that people can be so happy just to exchange words and connect with a stranger elsewhere on the planet. For those moments, space was collapsed between the people on either end of those “phones.”
The fact that the installation is so analogue and un-staged (it doesn’t seem to have been promoted: most people seem to have found it by happenstance) makes these interactions seem more personal somehow. I’m not sure why, but something about engaging with a stranger’s voice, without seeing the person in the context of their surroundings magnifies the friction between the closeness (the presence?) of the voice and knowing they are on the other side of the world. I don’t think this would have been successful in the same way with a video screen.
I would love to see more of these. I don’t know if they would work as well long-term… the surprise is part of the effectiveness, but I’d love to see it tried.
This is a pretty awesome concept with an amazing video documenting the end result of their collaboration. It's no wonder that all of these folks had huge smiles on their faces and were elated to be talking to someone in the other side of the planet. An art installation like this taps into that shared kid dream to dig a hole through the earth and explore another part of our world. When shared childhood dreams like this one are recreated to remind us of our desire to explore and communicate I think that we find a little more happiness and hope in the world. Borders and barriers fall away because we want to experience those new things, our minds become as open as the possibility of our dreams. Creating positive art with technology and childhood dreams is admirable. The optimism and happiness surrounding this project really creates and fosters the positivity that I love and adore in the world.
What I really like about this project is the fact that is provides a fun way for different cultures to connect. Although the communication is ambiguous (unless of course you care to share your name with the person on the other side of the ‘tin can’) it gets at a level of human connection that even direct face to face communication doesn’t always get at. It might be because of the geographic element (the fact that the people communicating are still in their own countries) or the playful element that gets at a big part of the American childhood, but I see this project as nothing other than a potential bridge between nations. Now I don’t mean to say that we build one of these in Iran and the U.S. and then everything becomes hunk dory, but it humanizes people. It puts a real human voice, live and in person, to the place in question. To me, that’s something that is incredibly effective.
This project is a really multi dimensional undertaking. Not only does it appeal to a universal sense of child like wonder about what lies on the opposite side of the earth from us, but it also takes aim at the much more adult concept of global connectedness and fostering community with those beyond our immediate community. This execution was so simple and effective, and the video is heartwarming. Though this version of the piece seemed primarily concerned with just connecting people on the opposite ends of the earth, the artists' plans for future projects and location are interesting to consider. Utilizing this as a tool for inter cultural education could be extremely powerful, and useful. As our world has grown smaller with the internet and cell phone usage, we increasingly omit the areas of the world that we simply have no imperative need to access. We allow our world to become less than what it is by selectively editing out what regions we do and do not need to contact. This project is an excellent direct counter against that.
This is so fun! I love how the use of technology made a childhood dream come to life. The most amazing part of this video was seeing people interacting and having so much fun with people they had never met before. It's such an interesting and innovative way to connect people in our world. Technology can do some awesome things and I think it's use for things like this is simply amazing. I know I've personally always been fascinated with the concept of a tunnel connecting both sides of the earth so this is extremely exciting for me. Projects like this are important to keep the happiness, creativity, and playfulness in all of us.
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