Last night, Sean Bonner, Caryn Coleman and I finished setting up the SENT phonecam art show installation at LA's Standard Hotel Downtown. 25 invited artists contributed images taken with Motorola V600s. The participants are as diverse as they are talented: photographers, indie photobloggers, two famed filmmakers, a billionaire b-ball team owner, and a celeb or two or three.
The work looks incredible, regardless of how they shot it — two shots from SENT artists are shown at left. Tattooed LA gangstaz lean out of low-rider cars. A girl gazes into the eye of a phone. White vapor rises off dark water in a Hollywood pool. A needle drops into a black vinyl groove. Little slices of digital life. Lovely stuff.
As I watched Caryn tack invited participants' photos along the wall in a grid resembling a gigantic SMS message (come to the show, you'll see what I mean), all I could think of was this: what's fascinating about people using new gadgets like phonecams to make art isn't the gadget. Human beings need to communicate just like we need to breathe, eat, and drink water. As new tools emerge, the way we communicate changes — but the need to connect with each other, and reflect on the visual, sensual, tactile world around us remains the same.
If you're in LA, please join us tomorrow night from 7-10pm for the big public opening event — the first time invited artists' phonecam pics will be shown. We'll be on the 4th floor of the Downtown LA Standard Hotel, 550 South Flower Street. Or, stop by Sunday 11 through Saturday 17 from 12-5pm and check out the show. Saturday's reception and the ongoing show are free and open to the public — and we've set up free WiFi in the 4th floor gallery space to complement the free WiFi in the hotel lobby. Blog on! More details here. Press clips, including this week's LA Times review, are here.
Update: Here is a sneak preview of some of the images shot by invited artists: Link
