GUÐJÓN KETILSSON

PUBLIC ART

How Are Things...?

2006, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland

This work was installed in Seyðisfjordur in 2006 to mark the hundred-year anniversary of a submarine telegraph cable from Scotland being brought ashore at Seyðisfjörður, thereby bringing Iceland into telegraphic contact with the world. At the exact site where the cable was brought ashore, a telephone booth made of rusted iron was incorporated into the terrain. On its illuminated floor, in both Morse code and Roman letters, is the first message sent via the wire, “How are things…? inquiring as to how the work of running the landline onward from Seyðisfjörður to Reykjavík was going. On the front of the booth is a relief of the “Icelandic white gyrfalcon,” the Icelandiccoat of arms from 1903 to 1919. 

Calls may be received, though not placed, via the phone in the booth; the phone number of the artwork is +354 566 1906. Commissioned by Síminn (formerly Iceland Telecom).