Reclaiming a disused technology, Benedetto Bufalino and Benoit Deseille conceived their phone booth aquarium project as a response to rapidly changing modes of communication. Installation artist Bufalino (who has been known to use live animals in his work on multiple occasions) and lighting designer Deseille have been collaborating on the illuminated fish tanks since 2007, when the duo premiered their first aquarium phone booth at Lyon’s Fete Des Lumieres. The aquariums have popped up at other festivals around Europe since then and were recently shown at the Lumiere Festival in Durham, UK in November, 2013. Bufalino and Deseille envisioned the project as “an invitation to investigate and travel,” as they said in their artist statement. Or perhaps, it came as a natural evolution of the electronic vestiges left behind as cell phone technology continues to evolve.
Photos courtesy of Benedetto Bufalino and Benoit Deseille
