The Bridge Gallery, Tynemouth Metro Station,Tynemouth

An exhibition of snippets of overheard mobile phone calls, painted in acrylic onto card.  Most are postcard size, a few are much bigger and painted onto recycled brown cardboard. Each card represents a different phone call.  Each call is just one half of a conversation that has seeped into public space.  The calls were overheard in public spaces: parks, streets, shops, cafes, pubs, the countryside, trains, buses and metros over the course of a year. The project started after overhearing someone being fired (over the phone) in the quiet coach on the train. 

The Bridge Gallery is on the metro bridge at Tynemouth station.  The central gallery area crosses the bridge and but is not open to the public.  People crossing the bridge on either side of the gallery space can see into it through glass windows.  The large cardboard phone calls were displayed in the central area.  The much smaller postcard sized phone calls were placed in the windows: making it easier for people to come near to them and read the text.  The postcards had a different phone call on the front and the back: thus, the different calls were visible to pedestrians walking on either side of the gallery.

The complete collection of overheard mobile calls will be exhibited in Newcastle in 2026 as An Attempt at Exhausting a year’s worth of overheard mobile phone calls.