The Last Galician Switchboard
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The Last Galician Switchboard
By James Forest Reid
The Last Galician Switchboard is an interactive multi-screen video installation that follows a switchboard operator haunted by family left behind in Eastern Europe. The piece incorporates familial letters and excerpts from Yiddish theatre, literature, and folklore to offer an interactive glimpse into life during wartime, Jewish experience, and forced relocation. Upon entering the installation room, participants can interact with an analogue switchboard to listen to audio recreations of historical communications between Jewish refugees during the first World War, voice-acted excerpts from Yiddish folklore, and remastered ethnographic recordings. Simultaneously, participants can watch a collage of thematically related archival stock footage projected on three different screens. This thesis project merges fictional and documentary sources in order to create an accessible understanding of a complex culture haunted by stories of resistance, perseverance, and survival.