Work
The Exchange
Maker Douglas Goldstein · Work date 2026 · Medium telephone · Role work · Experienced by the compiler 2026-07-16 at 19:06
Description
An old telephone switching station has been holding onto unfinished and unmade calls, and needs a new operator to connect them. The participant hacks the system with a 2600 Hz tone, gains control, listens to the held calls, solves a puzzle and connects them, and becomes the operator.
Source. No published description found.
CAMEO WOOD'S OWN ACCOUNT. Made for one participant exclusively, so no listing exists or should be expected. Experienced inside the recovery window — grade cells A/I, not F.
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 headphonesnoI
Delivered by telephone; a handset is not headphones and the account mentions none.
- Participants move through space as part of the worknoI
The account records switchboard actions on the line, not any instruction to change location.
- Audio technology is necessaryyesI
The entire work is conducted through the telephone system it depicts.
- Site-, situation- or language-specificnoI
The switching station is fictional; the account records no required site, circumstance or language.
- Engages with the history of a sitenoI
The 2600 Hz phreaking material invokes a practice, not documented past events of a specific identifiable real place.
- Created for an urban environmentnoI
A telephone work presupposes a line, not city infrastructure.
- Created as an artwork other than theaterunknown?
No listing exists and the account records no framing by the maker in any discipline.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Intended to be understood as theaterunknown?
No listing exists and the account records no theatrical vocabulary.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Accidental real-world sights and sounds are importantunknown?
The account does not address whether the participant's surroundings figure in the design.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Spectator must participateyesI
The account has the participant hacking the system, solving a puzzle and connecting the calls — action drives it.
- Has live performers other than the participantsunknown?
The account, from inside the recovery window, does not establish whether a person was performing live or the calls were recorded.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Involves game playyesI
The account describes an objective (gain control and connect the held calls), a puzzle, and a resolution state (becoming the operator).
- Uses props other than the listening deviceunknown?
Whether a physical tone-generating device or other object was handled is not established by the account.
Did you experience this? Tell us
5 of thirteen are still unknown for this work. If you experienced it, you can settle them in a minute.