For the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we present an off-site sound installation using the telephone. Participants are invited to listen to a series of stories illustrating the long-term effects of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Narratives describe the city of Hiroshima from the time of the detonation of the bomb in 1945 to two fictional events sometime in the future. Partipants are asked to access a voice mail system by calling a phone number displayed on a large wall graphic and distributed through flyers and cards.

The stories in this installation chronicle the many faces of trauma throughout the legacy of the bombing. Listeners are invited to travel through the entire catalog of human emotion: from horror to grief to denial and shame; from solemn remembrance to social action and finally to utopian euphoria or doomsday pessimism. O seconds, 12 minutes, 2 hours, 20 days shows the reverberation of shock waves from the explosion as it travels through time and history.

Medium: private and public telephones, sound mix, voicemail system on computer, signage, flyers

Date: 1995