Who You Gonna Call? – Past, Present, and Future Payphones
I was walking through the Times Square subway station last night, on my way to see Watchmen with Jeff and a few of our fellow thirtysomething nerdboys, when I spotted three identical payphones, side-by-side on a clean tile wall, just begging for something to be tacked on. So I pulled out a Sharpie and some manila tags that I’ve been carrying for just such an occasion, and designated one phone each for calls to the Past, Present, and Future.
More photos — including a couple with a test subject — after the jump.
After I snapped a few photos, I turned to head for the 1 train — but just then a gentlemen wandered up… contemplated his options for a minute… and made for the phone marked “Future”.
He fished around in his pocket and dug out a pile of quarters, placing them on top of the phone. He plunked a couple in, and dialed.
He stood there for a while, shifting his weight from his left foot to his right and waiting for an answer. For as long as I watched, he didn’t speak to anyone, but he didn’t hang up either. He just listened to the future-phone on the other end ringing and ringing…
More photos in my ‘Artstuffs’ Flickr set here.
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March 12th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I bet that guy felt electrified as he reached for the Future phone.
March 12th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I wonder if he was contemplating whether the person he was calling was the past, present or future, or if he decided who he was going to call based on which he wanted to commune with. The first is more likely, but I really like to think that when the option was given, he launched into the future with all the quarters he could find.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I wonder if it would be possible to make a phone call from the phone marked “past” and say something that would cause the “future” phone to ring in the present.
March 17th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
in a recent issue of glenn beck’s retarded fusion magazine, there’s a little piece that says 100% of payphone usage is illegal in nature and that any call on one should automatically be listened in on by the police (and a net should shoot out and capture the person. seriously.). hopefully that’s not the “future” payphone.
March 21st, 2009 at 12:15 am
ha! You made public art, I love it! oh, and you littered, and you made someone’s day by leaving a time machine right out in the open… nice job, friend.
April 20th, 2009 at 5:50 am
I love these!
April 28th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I love that you have manila tags on you at all times….
June 13th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
[...] Things I’m Diggin’ Right Now… 2009 June 13 by justatitch Past, Present, Future pay phones… [...]