Names and Voices
1998–ongoing
Photographic archive
‘As a photograph, the intercom becomes a stand-in, a surrogate, for the building and its occupants. Some, such as the more corporate looking devices, offer few clues to what lies behind. In this sense the intercom is simultaneously a screen and a screening device. For not only does the intercom lend itself to examination by the photograph, it too is designed for interrogation. How many occasions have we found ourselves on a doorstop rehearsing lines in our head before apprehensively pressing the buzzer? The intercom practices a kind of aural surveillance; the voice is scrutinised, examined for details, keywords, or traces of recognition. Provoking a feeling that one stutter, pause or hesitation may result in failure of admission.
Even in domestic situations, the intercom carries out that cautious practice that was formerly the preserve of tentatively opening a crack in the door or a ruffling of curtains. Although, intercoms are sometimes tamed by the addition of name badges, customisation by graffiti, or even photographs. Yet this does not assuage their inherent mystery. They offer merely a clue to what lies within the architecture of the building. Lists of names hint at the compartmentalisation of space, the organisation of flats and apartments, in which any given unit can be called at the touch of a button as easily as throwing a stone at a window.’
From Invetory, Vol.4 No.1, 2000
