Screened Calls & Slow Portraits

Using Skype as a medium for generating temporally destructive portraits and self-portraits, Hallier redefines portraiture for the digital age. The show documents and comments on 77 long-distance conversations Hallier conducted online with 7 friends and family members throughout one year using the software Skype*. The economy and facility of exchange are offset by the periodic disruptions in the flow of information that reveal the underlying technology of an otherwise seemless medium.

The installation deconstructs and recreates these conversations on two parallel walls, where two projections talk to one another through sound and images. In one projection, Hallier’s interlocutors follow each other in chronological order. In the other, the artist herself appears conversing with each person.

A series of large printed portraits capture moments of technological mishaps, producing a powerful and dramatic aesthetic that lies somewhere between impressionism and abstraction.
Judith Escalona - MediaNoche, NYC.

In addition, four digitally generated graphs comment on the quality of the relationships by comparing various aspects of the communication between Hallier and her 7 interlocutors. Finally, an exhaustive list of the online exchanges is printed with the name of each participant, the date, the title (borrowed from popular TV shows) the location and lenghth of each conversation.
Simulation extract with 2 screens on Vimeo:




Digital composite for the solo show at MediaNoche, NY.




Installation view at MediaNoche, NYC




Installation view at MediaNoche, NYC




Detail of the 7 interlocutors' portraits. C-Prints. 24" x 18" each. Red thread




Locations. Digital print. 20" x 24"




Moods. Digital print. 24" x 18"




Frequencies. Digital print. 24" x 20"




Lengths. Digital print. 24" x 18"




List of the 77 skype episodes. Digital print on vinyl. 20" x 44"