Chelsea-Anne Salter

Broken Communication is an audio work that attempts in particular to challenge the representation of erotica in literature. The work investigates a private conversation through handset speakers within the installation. The use of both first and third person breaks the lines between the omnipotent audience and the actively involved reader. Salter does not mean “I” as in herself here, but rather the ego/self.  Her “I” presents a different point of view, understanding and context to another’s “I”. Within Broken Communication, Salter uses the phones to challenge, through narrative rendition, the gap between the characters in the novels that have been presented – Marcus Sterns and Kinglsey Edge from Tiffany Reisz’s “The Prince” (2012). The use of nonvisual art connects to the idea that one cannot shut their ears as they can their eyes. Even if one does not want to listen in, there is a sense of curiosity with the seemingly abandoned phones. A conversation only intended for the chosen participants that should not be interrupted. Yet, listening in the audience gets snippets of long-lost words, sentences never finished and unknown contexts.