Museum Press

Pittsburgh Artist T Foley Brings “Locally Toned” to Bridgeport, Connecticut

March 16, 2011
CONTACT: Robbin Zella, Director, Housatonic Museum of Art
203-332-5052,

Lecture: Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Open Ringtone Recording Session: Thursday, March 24, 2011

T. Foley’s cell-phone based work Locally Toned is a public art/original ringtone creation project. Through it, the artist captures important or amusing sounds identified by participants, and turns those sounds into ringtones to be shared with others. All of the sounds are representative of collaborators’ personal experiences, environments and/or geographical regions, and are described by Foley as “tiny audio documentaries that play back over cell phones.”

Foley is invited by the Housatonic Museum of Art to bring Locally Toned to Bridgeport, where the artist will discuss her project and collaborate with students and the public to create original ringtones that reflect the sounds of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and its residents.  Locally Toned is part of the programming for the Housatonic Museum of Art original exhibition “It’s for you,” Conceptual Art and the Telephone, which is on view through March 25 in the Burt Chernow Galleries located at Lafayette Hall.

Since Foley began the project in 2009, her main focus has been on creating an audio portrait of Pittsburgh (where she lives). Because the project emphasizes shared creativity over commerce, the tones are distributed free-of-charge at www.locallytoned.org <http://www.locallytoned.org/> and via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). Unlike traditional works of public art, such as murals and outdoor sculptures, Locally Toned presents itself elusively, at unexpected times and in unexpected places (when users receive calls on their cell phones).

Foley will give a public talk about her project on Tuesday, March 22 at 5:00 p.m. and will hold an open recording session on Thursday, March 24, from 3:00-6:00. During the session people are invited to bring objects, ideas, and sound makers, then work with Foley to record their own ringtones.  Both of these events are open to the public and will take place in Housatonic Community College’s Lafayette Hall. A Locally Toned display in the gallery is currently on view and features locallytoned.org and take-away ringtone art cards that have special codes allowing visitors to send Pittsburgh tones directly to their cell phones.

Housatonic Museum of Art is located at the Housatonic Community College. For more information on the Museum, visit http://www.hcc.commnet.edu/artmuseum/index.html. For more on the exhibition: http://terricsmithitsforyouartandtelephone.blogspot.com/. HMA Gallery Hours: M-W: 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.; Thurs: 8:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.; Fri: 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.; Sat: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.; Sun: noon – 4:00 p.m.

Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops.  In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs.  HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution.  To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu .