Work
Dial-A-Poem
Maker John Giorno · Work date 1968 · Medium telephone · Role work
Description
Call a number, hear a poem. Giorno's service is the first systematic dissemination of poetry by telephone and the ancestor every later dial-in work is measured against. Cited by Daillère as the origin of the francophone telephone-performance lineage, and by Menke as a milestone in telephone genre.
Source. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/jj.33941380.8
The earliest work in this census where the spectator need not participate and no performer is live. Both of Beck's universal criteria break here, in 1968.
Anatomy
Thirteen criteria after Lauren R. Beck. Each carries a source grade: M maker-confirmed, P published, F first-hand, I inferred by the compiler, ? not yet established. Definitions are on the anatomy page.
- Participants listen through headphonesnoP
A telephone receiver.
- Participants move through space as part of the worknoP
The caller stays where they are.
- Audio technology is necessaryyesP
A recorded voice on a line is the entire work.
- Site-, situation- or language-specificnoI
Placeless by design; anyone with a phone can reach it.
- Engages with the history of a sitenoI
No real place's history.
- Created for an urban environmentnoI
No urban dependence.
- Created as an artwork other than theateryesP
Poetry and sound art, not theater. Giorno framed it as a poetry service.
- Intended to be understood as theaternoP
Never framed as theater by its maker.
- Accidental real-world sights and sounds are importantnoI
A recording that plays identically wherever it is heard.
- Spectator must participatenoP
The caller dials and listens. No action is required for it to proceed.
- Has live performers other than the participantsnoP
Recorded. No one performs during the call.
- Involves game playnoI
No rules, objective or resolution state.
- Uses props other than the listening devicenoI
Nothing is handled but the phone.