مجله ديزاين و طراحي

enabling everyday moments to border on dream-like visions and urban reality, the ‘phone booth aquarium’ installations by french artist benedetto bufalino and lighting and designer benoit deseille are a playful transformation of common telephone boxes. the project was initiated in 2007 for lyon’s festival of lights, where the duo re-purposed a regular phone booth to hold a brightly colored aquarium, full of exotic fish. due to the rise of the mobile phone, the iconic booths are rapidly disappearing from cities worldwide – these water tanks offer a visual reinvention. following the initial success of the first proposal, aquariums were installed in biarritz (france, 2009) port louis (mauritius, 2009) and in gent (belgium, 2011). the work is reflective of the artists – where regular objects and materials are combined, turning them into something else all together. the ‘phone booth aquarium’ questions the redundancy of old structures and offers a moment for urban dwellers to escape from their daily environment.

another ‘phone booth aquarium’ will be installed at the lumiere festival in durham, UK from the 14-17 november, 2013.

‘evasion urbaine by benedetto bufalino and benoit deseille’
video courtesy of BEN

phone booth aquarium, biarritz (france) 2009

phone booth aquarium, gent (belgium) 2011

phone booth aquarium, republic of mauritius, 2009

phone booth aquarium, republic of mauritius, 2009

up-close view of the phone booth aquarium, gent (belgium) 2011

phone booth aquarium, biarritz, (france) 2009 nighttime

 
nighttime views of the illuminated water tanks