BARZA TALKS! AND WRITES!

An open letter from the artist-in-residence:

Greetings,

My name is Antoni Abad and I'm a Catalan artist involved in the creation of cellphone community projects. Since 2004, I worked with groups such as taxi drivers in Mexico City, Gypsies in Spain, prostitutes in Madrid and disabled people in Barcelona. I have given them their own thematic multimedia channels on the internet using camera cellphones in order to get a glimpse into the lives of these otherwise marginalized societies.

At the moment, I'm in Manila preparing the "CallCenterForum", an internet based art project wherein call center agents are the focus. Like timezone expatriates, these people live in a world opposite of the city they live in. They sleep by day and work by night. Their jobs are also one of the most stressful in the world. They spend their working hours by a computer, obediently answering calls, and providing answers/solutions for people who live halfway around the globe.

www.zexe.net/MANILA is a website I have designed for this community to share their views, elations, frustrations and images via MMS. Through the different thematic channels of daily chores, fun times, work issues, and a text forum, this website hopes to offer a glimpse into the inner lives of this Philippine based nocturnal society.

So if you are a call center agent with a story to tell and a cameraphone, please visit the site, scroll down to JOIN NOW!, register your alias, and start sharing your life with us. And kindly forward this email to your call center friends who you think might be interested in contributing to the project as well.

The "CallCenterForum" project is funded by the Institut Ramon Llull and is part of the "Filipiniana Siglo XX" exhibition to be held in Madrid in may 2006. This exhibition is a co-production of Casa Asia and the Ministerio de Cultura de España (Cooperación Cultural).

Thanks very much and I hope to see you at the Living Room for the launch of the website on Saturday.

Antoni Abad

IT´S A PARTY FOR CALL BOYS AND CALL GIRLS

It is the end of Barcelona Artist Antoni Abad´s residency at The Living Room. And in order to mark this occassion properly, a cocktail will be held to launch the website of his current art project www.zexe.net/MANILA, a website devoted to inner lives of call center agents. So come and learn more about this fascinating project and perhaps meet some of the people who you talk to on the other end of the line. There will also be a brief artist´s talk and some free cranberry vodka while it lasts (thanks Finlandia!).

MARCH 25, 2006, Saturday
6:30PM
The Living Room
Unit 24, North Syquia Apartments,
1991 MH del Pilar, Malate
0 926 2597506
directions here...

BARZA CALLING...

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...
Meet the artist-in-residence for the month of March at The Living Room, Antoni Abad. A 49-year old Catalan who hails from the city of Barcelona, this mid-career conceptual artist has been working on projects which involve giving a voice to marginalized sectors of society through the use of cell phones and the internet. In the last two years, his projects have been about the documentation of daily chores and challenges concerning disabled individuals in Barcelona, taxi drivers in Mexico City, and prostitutes in Madrid. He achieves this by providing them with cell phones and having them send their MMS images down to his website. So far, he hasn't figured out which sectors of Manila's society he wants to focus on, but his short list includes street children, seamen, and/or maybe transvestites. Stay posted to this website for info on a possible exhibition opening and artist's talk. He leaves Manila on March 26. His projects can be viewed online at www.zexe.net.

The Living Room
Unit 24, North Syquia Apts.
1991 MH del Pilar, Malate