Christian Marclay, video artist

Telephones is a montage of classic film excerpts in which actors and actresses first dial then answer, speak into, listen on, and hang up telephones. Marclay’s sequencing of film clips is akin to building an architectural structure brick by brick. The movie scenes also show the protagonists talking on the phone against the backdrop of architectural film sets: domestic interiors, hotel rooms, and the now antiquated semi-private, semi-public shelter of a telephone booth.