Artist Amy Youngs has formulated a socially stimulating idea for a project known as “Live, Live” involving Robert Morris College, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the Chicago Transit Authority. Youngs piece is a public installation of three unique looking phones that are intended to encourage conversation between people on the CTA platform. A participant who picks up one of these phones will hear a voice expounding on travelling which will also asks travel related questions; anything said by the participant in response to the questions will be audible via the other phones. It is the intention of the artist that this accidental interaction between platform dwellers would result in willing, intentional conversation. As someone who has been a CTA frequenter and who has grown quite accustomed to the odd silence often shared with those whom I’ve waited alongside I think that this piece has somewhat admirable intentions. I’ve often found that when, for one reason or another, conversation is struck up with a fellow traveller it has made for a much more memorable travelling experience. Conversation initiated by a common interest in intriguingly designed phones sounds much more beneficial to the life of Chicagoans than awkward silence.

Jon Zayat