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<\/p>\nArtist Dave Gatzmer’s sound barrier phone display is both an art & history museum, 20 feet off the ground. <\/p>\n
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. \u2014 What we see every day, our eyes no longer see.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Take freeway noise barriers, not even worthy of our passing glances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unless you’re Dave Gatzmer, and a noise barrier calls you.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere we go,\u201d Dave says to himself, 20 feet up on a ladder, attaching a 1980s corded phone to the back side of a St. Louis Park noise barrier.<\/p>\n
With a cordless drill in hand, he\u2019ll repeat the process until several new, old phones occupy formerly vacant space. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cTa-da!\u201d Dave says with an air of satisfaction<\/p>\n
A few years back, during a road construction project, Dave saw in his neighborhood more than a new sound wall. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw this new blank canvas,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The artist grabbed some old phones he had lying around and hung them up. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Initially, \u201cI put up five,\u201d Dave recalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those first five phones, occupying the top few feet of the neighborhood side of the noise barrier, have grown to a couple hundred.<\/a><\/p>\n They\u2019ve also earned Dave a nickname he didn\u2019t seek, connecting him to the world\u2019s best-known street artist.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve been coined ‘Phone Banksy,’\u201d Dave says. Like it or not, the name stuck.<\/p>\n Across the street from the sound barrier, inside the basement of his home, Dave preps more phones for hanging. Receivers are glued in place, and metal strapping is screwed to the backs of phones to make them easier to mount. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Spring has brought Dave a bumper crop.<\/p>\n \u201cSome lady found me on Facebook,\u201d he says, holding up a brand-new corded phone, still in the box, and destined for the wall.<\/p>\n \u201cShe, like, really wants this up there,\u201d Dave says. So, of course, \u201cUp it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n Dave has never paid for a phone; his art project grows only through phone donations.<\/p>\n Dave reaches down to pick up a piece of plywood, onto which several phones are mounted.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my friends came \u2014 this was his Halloween costume,\u201d Dave says with a laugh. \u201cYeah, he came as my wall.\u201d<\/p>\n The basement is a festival of oddities, and not just random old phones. Dave is surrounded by odd knick-knacks and photos, many of them his own creations.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I’m a weirdo,\u201d he confesses with a hearty laugh.<\/p>\n Unsure others would be equally enamored of his sense of humor, Dave started out hanging phones anonymously.<\/p>\n \u201cI was sneaking over here at night doing it,\u201d he says, now back at the wall. \u00a0<\/p>\n After a time, Phone Banksy came to a revelation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you’ve got a pizza box or a ladder, people just let you go anywhere you want,\u201d he says with a laugh.<\/p>\n After some initial pushback, Dave now has the blessing of both the city of St. Louis Park and the state of Minnesota to display his phones as public art above the Cedar Lake LRT Regional Trail that runs next to the noise barrier.<\/p>\n He also has Louie Schopper\u2019s blessing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe check out the phones, like, every day,\u201d Randi Schopper, the toddler\u2019s mother, says.<\/p>\n \u00a0Randi points to a phone shaped like a motorcycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s his favorite,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cR2-D2 is pretty cool,\u201d he says, pointing to a Star Wars-themed phone.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s a piano phone,\u201d Dave adds as he continues his walk along the wall.<\/p>\n He points to phones resembling footballs, high-heeled shoes, and Legos.<\/p>\n \u201cI like this yellow donut phone,\u201d Dave says, pointing to a model with a 70s vibe. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In that, the wall serves as a museum of both art and history, harkening back to a time when having a mobile phone meant attaching a 15-foot cord.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sixth-grader Julien Munson stops beneath the wall of phones while on a bike ride with his eighth-grade sister Delphine.<\/p>\n He pulls from his pocket an iPhone 17.<\/p>\n Julien has never used a rotary phone, nor has his sister.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, never,\u201d Delphine says when asked. \u00a0<\/p>\n Neither will ever experience a good receiver slamming to end a call with a pesky telemarketer.<\/p>\n \u201cBoom!\u201d says Dave as he makes a slamming motion. \u201cIt just makes you feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet, Julien and Delphine needn\u2019t have experienced the phones to appreciate them.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI like how they’re all up there and they’re not in a landfill somewhere,\u201d Delphine says.<\/p>\n Good news, kids. Dave is collecting more.<\/p>\n Mounted to the wall, at a more reasonable height, is a metal box Dave installed for donations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s been overflowing, and there’s been bags of phones,\u201d he says. \u201cAs long as they keep coming, I’ll keep putting them up.\u201d<\/p>\n Dave Gatzmer is a man who\u2019s found his calling.<\/p>\n Editor’s note: Dave Gatzmer’s sound barrier art project is located at the Highway 100 & Highway 7 interchange, just west of Carpenter Park, in St. Louis Park. You can contact Dave on his social media platforms, including Facebook<\/a> and Instagram.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n ![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cc50e484-76be-44b4-900c-4c3111f334e5_1140x641.jpg\")
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