Gir d’Air + Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier

Video Stills: Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier, «Théâtrophone», 2020
Gir d'Air + Rico Scagliola and Michael Meier present the work "Théâtrophone" from 2020
Théâtrophone takes the disembodied voices of the telephone and radio as the starting point for a series of short cinematic melodramas. Inspired by the SRF2 broadcast format Klassiktelefon, fictitious personalities unfold in six video episodes behind the anonymous voices expressing personal music wishes.
Each episode begins with a call to the Klassiktelefon – this develops into a staged scene from a wide variety of cultural milieus: from urban dropouts to artists in a holiday home to a historical scholar duo. The chosen music – actually broadcast on the radio – accompanies the cinematic sceneries as a soundtrack.
All roles are played by the artists themselves, all calls are made in real life. In this way, the medium of radio is combined with cinematic staging and fictional role-playing – and makes the otherwise invisible voices of the listeners visible.
Théâtrophone creates a poetic space for reflection on culture, voice, closeness and the need to be heard – between the private and the public, between fiction and reality.