PMS = Poster Message Service

Poster Message Service mainly consisted of two 40 inches flat screens. Passer-bys could send SMS, MMS and mobile phone videos to these screens.

A description illustrated how and to which number passer-bys could send messages that were subsequently to appear on the screens. Once a new message arrived the old one was replaced by the new one. Pictures, videos or SMS were displayed without any censorship during a minimum duration of two minutes and a maximum duration of five minutes.

If there were no new message after five minutes, older messages were displayed randomly until a new message would arrive. 

Situation railway station Thalwil (CH), 2008

PMS was installed in the ArtBox Thalwil Zurich Switzerland from January, 26 until March, 25 2008.

ArtBox is located on Thalwil’s railway station and consists of two glass cabins, one on platform 4 and one on platform 6. 

Screen shot, all messages from Thalwil see URL`s => PMS : Animation

With the two screens we wanted to motivate passer-bys waiting for a train or other people who knew the phone number to become visible and to speak out on a general public. Once you knew the telephone number you could send messages to the screens at any time and from any place.

For us, this constituted an experiment with which we could observe how such an opportunity was used and what kinds of contents were created. Can these messages create a contrast to the ever-present advertisement pictures and slogans?
 

Situation railway station Thalwil (CH), 2008

Different place different context

For a second and third implementation of the project we chose different places and different contexts for PMS.

The lounge in Sphères, a coffee shop in Zurich’s Westend, offered the opportunity of taking over two permanently installed monitors for PMS for the duration of one month. The monitors are usually used for live TV coverages of soccer matches or events such as the election of the Federal Council. Sphères is a coffee shop, a bar and a bookshop with an integrated cultural enterprise on stage. It offers space for hanging out, for reading and for various events. The same building also hosts the weekly newspaper WOZ.
 

12.9. - 16.10. 2008 Sphères (Bar Buch Bühne) Zurich, totaly received messages: 149

For two days PMS was installed in the middle of the book fair BucH.08 in Basel. The international book and literature festival invited guests from Switzerland and abroad and is a leading national event for books and literature. The annual Swiss books award is also hosted by the festival.

The phone number for PMS and the text: LiveReadWriteSend were stamped on each visitor ticket when visitors validated their tickets.
 

14.11. - 16.11. 2008 Buch08 Basel, totaly received messages: 91

Pictures & Text by Baggenstos/Rudolf, Zurich 2008 

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