Katrine Turner: An alternative helpline for the end of the world

Book a personal phone call to receive your own piece of advice for the end of the world, recommended by a computer algorithm.

15 minute performances available 10am-5pm from 24 to 26 May

Free tickets available via Eventbrite>

In Autumn 2020, like thousands of the newly unemployed, Katrine Turner took a temporary contract as an outsourced Call Handler on the Coronavirus Response Helpline. Inspired by this experience, she developed a new performance, where she  created an alternative helpline for the end of the world. 

Outsourced call handlers at the Coronavirus Response Helpline use a computer system, an algorithm made up of yes or no questions, to 'diagnose' the problem of the caller. Katrine has created a similar network, or map of questions, which may or may not lead to some advice for the imminent end of the world. This new web of questions is concerned with the breakdown of ecological and economic systems, the climate crisis and imagined futures. It playfully explores the relationship between human contact, computer systems and the use of outsourced workers. 

'An alternative helpline for the end of the world' will be delivered through 1 on 1 phone calls, in which the solo audience members' responses to the alternative algorithm will dictate the course of the performance. 

Much like the Coronavirus Response Helpline, each phone call will lead to an outcome recommended by a computer algorithm- a piece of advice for the end of the world.

Participants can book a 15 minute consultation, and at their allocated time slot they will receive a call from the Helpline. 
(18 + age recommendation)

You can watch the performance live in a makeshift office space in the window of The Pink Peacock on Glasgow's Victoria Road, from 10am-5pm on Monday 24, Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 May 2021. (Please note the phone call will not be heard from the street, and the performance is reduced to yes and no answers on a monitor.)

About the Artist 
Katrine Turner is a Glaswegian artist working with live performance and film. She creates work concerned with speculative futures, the climate crisis and the end of capitalism.

Credits
Concept and performance: Katrine Turner
Dramaturgy: Irina Glinski
Creative Technologist: Libby Odai
With support from the Tramway Beyond Walls team.

This performance is part of our Tramway Beyond Walls season, engaging with the community beyond the physical limits of our building.

Phot: Brian Hartley