This workshop is a trial to describe how information flows through us.

What we do with mobile phone is just exchange information. It enters through the ear and into the mind and then out through the mouth.

In this workshop, visual information (an artwork) is translated into words, and transferred through a mobile phone to someone who then interprets it onto paper as a drawing. This process enables us to look back at how information is deformed while flowing through our bodies.

Ideal location of this workshop is a museum or gallery. The group is divided into pairs, one stays in workshop room and the other walks around the museum to selects one art work to describe.(1) The task is to describe the artwork in words by mobile phone.(2)

The one who stays in workshop room besides having a mobile phone has a pen and sheet of paper. (3,4) A drawing is created based on the descriptions received from his partner. (He must not see the artwork which he is about to draw)

It might be difficult to describe how to draw visual thing in verbal way. But somehow this kind of difficulty is always with us when we communicate through phone.

Finally, when they have finished, they can get together and check out the difference between the two. The process may create some addition to drawing. (5)

We did total 5 sessions at Rooseum contemporary art center and Malmo kunstmuseum in summer of 2003.

The results varies up to participants. But one thing we should say is after few sessions in each day, participants learn to communicate more precisely as much as possible. Then we find there are some impossibilities remain even we tried to reach best way to communicate. Human’s ingenuity is amazing…..

The main thing we talked about is the function of words in communication. We had to describe visual thing with words. For example, when one of the participants said “There is a thin and tall guy”, it just summarize a part of the picture. It is correct. But how we can assume the other participant can imagine exactly same picture in his/her mind as same as another participant and draw it? It was the question we have found during workshop. When we communicate, the word suggests almost same thing as the person who said imagines and then we can share the meaning……. but details.

The details, which is not easy to tell by words and it makes certain addition in this communication over mobilephones.

Can word be a tag to pick up visual image memory? How the image and memory in your mind which is triggered by someone’s words is same as that one’s (and his/hers)? Is that reliable enough to use for communication (otherwise how we can communicate)?

In flow of the information, specially when we communicate over communication medium, there are some dynamics is going on and we normally not aware of…. or just ignore. We could focus on this dynamism throughout the workshop 🙂