Synopsis

I created this 3-minute piece in Bangalore, India (spring 2008). I also produced a series of works where these communication towers create a chaotic sky-scrape of satellites. This animation utilizes over 500 photos I have taken in India of communication towers. When traveling and living in Southern India I was very surprised to see so many cell phone towers flooding the landscape. It was extraordinary to see India becoming so modernized with this compact and efficient device. In a very capitalist perspective this was a means of literally selling air space both visual and radio waves. I took the title from one of the largest phone companies “Air Tell”. As part of my research I made a series of large-scale digital prints based on the animation Air Sell (12 digital photographs, 2 feet by 4 feet). I presented a series of large scale wood block prints. These are wood block prints of cluster-fucks of communication towers in raw silk. I produced these by using photoshopped images of local Bangalore towers. I then made teak wood blocks of these tower clusters. They were produced with a master sari printer in Bangalore. “Air Sell” sound design by Kevin Kelly. The first half of the piece uses various sound bites from Bollywood Classic hits. The second portion uses Indian cell phone rings. I downloaded these sometimes funny ringtones from a Pakistani website.

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  • DVD,
  • H.264,

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  • Video Pool Media Arts Centre