The Historical Contacts, Constraint #70
Change the names of ten contacts in your phone to names of historical figures you admire. Keep them for a week. See if it changes the way you talk to them.
Reference artist(s): Sophie Calle.
The protocol
- Choose ten historical or artistic figures who matter to you… writers, artists, scientists, historical figures.
- Assign each one to a contact in your phone based on personal logic… a character resemblance, a symbolic connection, a shared trait.
- Change the names in your contacts. Take a “before” screenshot.
- Live for a week with these names. When Marie Curie texts you, when Rimbaud calls you.
- Note whether and how your way of responding or interacting has changed. Restore the real names after the week. Submit a “before/after” screenshot and a text on the site.
Variants
- Choose characters you don’t admire. Observe whether it changes your mood.
- Ask a friend to make the assignments for you… without telling you who is who.
Post your trace on ouviepo.fr with the hashtag #ouviepo_TheHistoricalContacts