Museum of Contemporary Art Sweet Art

A red heart with black text all around it.Everything is set on a white background. 

This button was desgined by artist Dallegret Francois on the occasion of the exhibition Art by Telephone at the Museum Of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago. The exhibit was on view from November 1 through December 14, 1969.

Art by Telephone was a very conceptual exhibition and was considered controversial at the time. All of the works were intended to be temporary and were destroyed after the exhibition. Participating artists on the exhibition included Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Serra, and Robert Smithson.

Dallegret’s work from the exhibition was titled Hot Line/Soft Laser. It included a 30 foot long wire hung horizontally at eye level and plugged into a timer. The wire would be heated and turn red, expand, and sag at each interval, but as it resumed to room temperature, the wire would straighten and return to black.