1-900-ALL-KAREN
Karen Finley
February 16-August 16, 1998
International via telephone
Photo © 1998 Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Every day for six months, artist Karen Finley recorded a personal message that audiences across the country could access via a 1-900 number. Inspired by America’s growing fascination with the telephone as a personal yet anonymous outlet for information and companionship, Finley chose to use telecommunications as a vehicle to connect to a national audience. Finley’s phone commentary responded to a range of topics, including observations on news headlines and social injustices as well as more personal reflections on motherhood and daily life, allowing callers to experience a virtual one-on-one look at an artist. She specifically appropriated a 900 exchange (usually associated with the charlatanism of phone sex, horoscopes, and psychics) as a venue to explore artistic free expression.