The Hotline
Operators are standing by to take your call.
Accessed via a 1800 number, The Hotline allows callers to explore anecdotes on reproductive healthcare via a phone menu with each user creating their own choose-your-own-adventure style narrative. Satirising anti-choice pregnancy helplines, The Hotline explores how patriarchal medicine impacts those experiencing reproductive health issues.
Nominated for Best Experimental Game in the 2024 Freeplay Independent Games Festival.
Shortlisted for the 2023 New Media Writing Prize (Main category, Social Good category).
Confronting, funny, mind-bendingly weird: Fringe theatre kicks off with a phone call, The Age, October 3rd, 2023
The Hotline review, Melbourne Arts, October 3rd, 2023
Performance reviews: The Hotline, Poet No.7 and Zaffé, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Arts Hub, October 10th, 2023
Freeplay Award Nominees 24, Freeplay, January 24th, 2024
Shortlist 2023, New Media Writing Prize, May 11th, 2024
"Navigating Kasey Gambling’s deliriously cheerful, malignantly patriarchal parody of a reproductive healthcare “help” line feels like being stuck in limbo, halfway between The Handmaid’s Tale and The Stepford Wives." — Stephen A. Russell, The Age
"Confronting, infuriating and playful all at once." — Artshub
Content warning: this work covers the following topics including lived experiences about abortion, medical procedures and inadequate reproductive care surrounding postpartum experiences, Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, menopause, gender transition, hysterectomy and fertility. To find out what to expect during The Hotline, visit our content and sensory guide for more information on accessibility, our privacy policy and content.
Interactive Voice Response system, html website, 2023-2024
Kasey Gambling
Sound Design: Josie Steele
Photo/Video: Jez Hunghanfoo & Kasey Gambling
Exhibition history:
Melbourne Fringe (2023)
Counihan Gallery (2023)
Queen Victoria Women's Centre (2023)
Adelaide Fringe (2024)