Today Calls (February)

(2017)

Daily feed at the dedicated project site Today Calls.Website.

Related works: Dial 9 (for NSCAD), Dial 40 (for Art Metropole), Publick, SeptSixUn-QuatreHuitQuatreUn, Stéréophonie, Tue, un jeudi téléphonique.

Texts by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Christof Migone, and Jordan Scott.

Kathryn and Jordan were invited to pick a historical event for every day of the year (from the events that Wikipedia lists for every day). They wrote a response, and in turn, I wrote a response to theirs (plus took account of the prompts they chose).

Today Calls You. Do you answer the call? If so, how and when? Today.

Each day another X appears (January 1: 1, December 31: 365/366).

On the right you see the second month, the links below get you to the other months:
– JANUARY
– FEBRUARY
– MARCH
– APRIL
– MAY
– JUNE
– JULY
– AUGUST
– SEPTEMBER
– OCTOBER
– NOVEMBER
– DECEMBER

The installation version with telephones features the voices of Lauren Cullen, Amy Fung, Francisco-Fernando Granados, Marla Hlady, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Christof Migone, and Niloufar Salimi.

Project made possible thanks to funding provided by the Ontario Arts Council.

February 1:

​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.

February 2:

​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1964 – Hasbro launched G.I. Joe.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1913 – Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.

February 3:

​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1637 – Tulip mania collapses in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands) as sellers could no longer find buyers for their bulb contracts.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1947 – The lowest temperature in North America, −63.9 °C (−83.0 °F), is recorded in Snag, Yukon.

February 4:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1846 – The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.

February 5:

​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1958 – A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1869 – The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the “Welcome Stranger”, is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia.​

February 6:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1988 – Michael Jordan makes his signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspiring Air Jordan and the Jumpman logo.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (left). Prompt: 1951 – The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.

February 7:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1904 – A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1935 – The classic board game Monopoly is invented.

February 8:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1855 – The Devil’s Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1935 – The classic board game Monopoly is invented.

February 9:

​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1986 – Halley’s Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1555 – Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake.​

February 10:

​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1258 – Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1947 – Crowds gathered at shop windows in Paris to see Christian Dior’s New Look fashion – longer skirts, nipped-in waists and padded shoulders.​

February 11:

​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1968 – The Memphis Sanitation strike begins. 1978 – Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.​

February 12:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1935 – USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1994 – Four men break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream.

February 13:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 2000 – The last original “Peanuts” comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.

February 14:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1945 – World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 2005 – YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.

February 15:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 2001 – The first draft of the complete human genome is published in Nature.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1965 – A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

February 16:

T​ext by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1881 – The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1).
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (left). Prompt: 1957 – The “Toddlers’ Truce”, a controversial television close down between 6.00 pm and 7.00 pm is abolished in the United Kingdom.​

February 17:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1980 – First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1980 – First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.

February 18:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1955 – Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot “Wasp” is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1979 – Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.

February 19:

​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 2002 – NASA’s Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
Text by Christof Migone (left). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1847 – The first group of rescuers reaches the Donner Party.​

February 20:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1991 – A gigantic statue of Albania’s long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down in the Albanian capital Tirana, by mobs of angry protesters.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (left). Prompt: 1987 – Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, a bomb explodes in a computer store.

February 21:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.

February 22:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1997 – In Roslin, Midlothian, Scottish scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.

February 23:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.

February 24:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1942 – The Battle of Los Angeles: A false alarm led to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasted into the early hours of February 25.
Text by Christof Migone (left). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1989 – United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section.

February 25:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1956 – In his speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union denounces the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1932 – Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, which allows him to run in the 1932 election for Reichspräsident.

February 26:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1946 – Finnish observers report the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.

February 27:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1812 – Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
Text by Christof Migone (left). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1996 – Pokémon was released in Japan.

February 28:

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1991 – The first Gulf War ends.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1939 – The erroneous word “dord” is discovered in the Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.

February 29 (leap year):

​​Text by Jordan Scott (left). Prompt: 1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
Text by Christof Migone (center). Prompts: texts by Jordan and Kathryn plus the prompts they chose.
Text by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (right). Prompt: 1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.

JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE