As New York City begins to convert their telephone booths to wifi hotspots and mini-libraries, artists in France have upcycled a telephone booth into a functional aquarium for Lyon’s Festival of Lights, a religious annual festival unique to Lyonnaise culture and a major tourism driver for the city.

The installation was created by lighting designer Benoit Deseille and artist Benedetto Bufalino. According to Inhabitat, they site their inspiration as coming from the rise of new forms of communication.

With the advent of the mobile telephone, telephone booths lie unused. We rediscover this glass cage transformed into an aquarium, full of exotically colored fish; an invitation to escape and travel.

Visit The Festival of Lights’ official website for a glimpse of the numerous other visual spectacles that have been developed by other artists and designers.

The Festival of Lights