Viewers of a certain age are likely to chuckle at
the sight of Clark Kent transforming into Superman by ducking into a telephone
booth. Those below, say, 20—maybe a bit higher—are likely to be nonplussed by a
once-ubiquitous piece of infrastructure made obsolete by the cellphone. (Heck,
in the day of the smartphone, those of us who cling to flip-top
cellphones are likely to feel as much of a museum piece as the eight-track
tape.)
All the more reason, then, why I was stunned at a
sight this week in New York’s Times Square enough to make the visual record
seen here. It’s part of Once Upon A Place, an interactive
public art installation created by Afghan-American artist Aman Mojadidi. This
is one of three telephone booths that will be in Times Square (or, to be
technical, Duffy Square) now through September 5.
Listen: It may seem that you can step into this
confined space and call a relative in God-knows-where, except that the facility
has been, to use a phrase much in vogue these days, repurposed. Instead of its
old use, visitors can pick up the receiver and listen to oral histories of
immigration from recent New Yorkers.
Let's hope immigration to America doesn't go the way of the phone booth, too.
Let's hope immigration to America doesn't go the way of the phone booth, too.
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