Anna Jermolaewa
In the early 1980s in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), a technical error opened phone lines between strangers—like an early chat room. On the Line by Anna Jermolaewa consists of three Soviet pay phones installed on several floors. Visitors can use them to talk to one another.
The open-line calls offered rare freedom from state control. Tying a coin to a string was used as a trick to make free phone calls. A 2-kopek coin on a string was inserted into the coin slot in order to activate the phone line, and pulled back once the call is over. This coin-on-a-string served as a sign of outsmarting the system, and as a symbol of the first “online” social network.
In 1989, Jermolaewa fled the Soviet Union as a political refugee and moved to Austria. She works across media to explore social and political topics, often mixing humor with the poetry of everyday life.
On the Line, 2025, Soviet era pay phones, framed coins on a string. Courtesy of the artist, Commissioned by Taipei Biennial 2025 with the Support of Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport of the Republic of Austria, and the Austrian Office Taipei.
Telephone Booths, 2024, 6 telephone booths from Traiskirchen, Austria, Photo: Jermolaewa. Courtesy of the artist.
