07427397776, 2017 -18
Public art commission accross five sites in Croydon, UK, 2017.
07427397776 reverses the traditional mechanism of a poster that tells you about a product or service. Each poster/ billboard/ sign confronts the viewer with a combination of elements: a telephone number (which the audience can ring or text and leave messages on) alongside the coordinates of the posters location and a background image of an undisclosed place. Messages left by passersby will be made anonymous and presented by Eldret at a later date.
Eldret’s works question the way commercial and public-service posters ask viewers to use their imaginations to think of another space or time. For example, posters often ask us to imagine an upcoming event, the joy of acquiring a new product, or the potential dangers to be avoided in everyday life. Continuing Eldret’s socially engaged practice as a form of portraiture, the posters are meant to be of the people, not for the people. They could be read as versions of a ‘your ad here’ billboard, where the content comes from the viewer.
07427397776 by Laura Eldret is a poster project commissioned by Fungus Press and Turf Projects in Croydon, South East London. This is the first time an artist was invited to produce work located in all the Fungus Press/ Turf Projects sites across Croydon, London. A zine accompanies the project and includes contributions from Hardeep Pandhal, Ludovica Giosca, Anne Tallintire, Stephen Nelson, Mick Peter and Beatriz Olabarrieta.