Annika Ström

“MIN MOBIL“, 2003
Video installation, 7:20 min.

Min Mobil focuses on the cell phone as a mirror of personal experience and its various everyday uses, some of which were not envisaged by the manufactu- rer. A central figure in the video is Annika Ström’s mother who hides her cell phone away like a weapon or precious possession. It is only turned on occasionally because she is “not expecting any calls” or wants to save electricity. Over and above this agedetermined, unusual use of the phone, the concern is with the way in which the device has inscribed itself into the social construction of the lives of Ström and her generation. Thus one episode shows a moment when the ringing telephone forces its way into Ström’s private sphere while she is playing with her little son, another the relieved smile of a man which he sends as a picture in reply to the SMS which interrupted his sleep. A third shows a gesture of reassurance: a hand gently seeks the touch of a cell phone, as if it were the hand of a partner.