Ribbon Cutting - Nick Weerts Memorial Phone Booth

After years in the making, we are finally proud to unveil the Nick Weerts Memorial Phone Booth (NWMPB).
Refreshments will be served. This event is very much public. Please pass the word to anyone I may have forgotten to invite.
As many of you know, Nick had an odd fascination with payphones. If you have any photos of Nick with a payphone tucked away somewhere, please share them on this event’s wall. We are working to build an archive, and we’d love to see what you have.
About the Installation:
The Nick Weerts Memorial Phone Booth is an interactive public art installation that allows participants to experience the memories of a place through audio collage.
Lift the handset and the phone will begin playing a randomly selected piece of audio, continuing for as long as you care to listen. Press the hook switch and another recording will be selected at random.
The installation shares some spirit with the Japanese concept of the wind phone—an unconnected telephone where people can speak to loved ones who are no longer with them. The Nick Weerts Memorial Phone Booth works somewhat in reverse: rather than speaking into the phone and sending words outward, you pick up the receiver and listen. Voices, sounds, music, and moments from the past come back through the line, creating an unexpected connection between memory, place, and the person holding the phone.
There are more than ten hours of material waiting to be discovered.
Hidden among the recordings are celebrations with friends and family, intimate conversations, beautiful music, holiday gatherings, full-length films, and the timeless comedy stylings of Rodney Dangerfield.
We encourage you to take your time, explore the memories contained within this space, and listen to the soul of 209 Corry Street.
Our goal with this project is to enrich the neighborhood and bring a little spontaneity and joy to someone’s day. We also hope it becomes a collaborative project. Members of the public are encouraged to contribute pieces of audio to the installation. Over time, as more people participate, the collection can grow beyond our own memories and become a reflection of the community in which it lives.
This installation is dedicated to the life of our lost son, brother, and friend, Nick Weerts.
May he live forever in our memories.