"The Cell Phone Photo Gallery," Curated By Joseph R. Reeves

So, for the very humble hand full of people that have been faithfully following my various endeavors within art, writing, and film; you may recall my very first installation of "The Cell Phone Photo Gallery," that was cooked up my senior year at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design well over a year ago. At the time, I was very excited about the concept itself and entirely pleased with the small scale version of it that I was able to install. Since then, I had kept it in the forefront of my mind as a project that needed to be given its full extent of potential as soon as I could find a space large enough to host the show.

Over a year later, after having done a substantial amount of traveling and living on the road while working on the in-process manuscript for THE LAST GREAT american JOURNEY; I had returned to milwaukee to work for a month or two, in efforts to collect some cash to continue my traveling (I am in Eugene, OR. as I type this, and Portland bound by tomorrow). During my prolific little stint in Milwaukee, I did everything that I couldn't do on the road, and I pushed my studio practice to the fullest, almost always working large scale- mostly because it's not an option when you're living out of your back pack. Out of the whole batch of work, my biggest accomplishment was definitely the full scale implementation of "The Cell Phone Photo Gallery."

It just so happened that during my time in Milwaukee, a serendipitous little happening took place that randomly ended up getting me a job with iNViDiA DESIGN. Since these guys had the means to support a show of this caliber, I immediately began forming an in depth proposal. The extensive 8 page proposal outlined the budget, construction, implementation, and any/all otherdetails concerning the show.

I must've done something right because the proposal was accepted, and I had just over a month to collect the photo's and build a gallery for the humungous, pillar-lined Pritzlaff building. I was very grateful that M.A.R.S./iNViDiA was willing to give me the space I needed.

By using social networking devices such as text messaging, and Facebook, I was able to generate allot of interest in the show, and even more importantly, I was able to boost the number of submissions a bit. The main efforts we put forth with our highly modest budget, were in pounding the pavement, hitting the street, and littering Milwaukee with fliers requesting that people submit us their favorite cell phone photos for the gallery. An important aspect of my approach was that all the photographs would remain entirely anonymous, and pretty much anything was acceptable as content.

Opening these subversive possibilities up to complete strangers was intriguing to me because in a sense, it gives a very broad audience a certain amount of control over the content as a whole. In this way, my role as "curator" is both loose and debatable. To this extent, I believe I am working towards the idea of using curating as a medium in itself.

I collected over 600 pictures for The Cell Phone Photo Gallery, and I see this project as one that will continue to develop through the years. As I continue to travel, I am beginning to flirt with the notion of collecting photos regionally, but like usual, I will make those decisions as they come.

The idea of representing the photos eventually in a book is also a possibility- if you're interested in providing me with space for a show, or are interested in the possibilities of seeing this idea in print, e mail JOSEPHREEVESART@YAHOO.COM

I could sit here and elaborate on this exhibition till the cows come home, but to a certain extent, I feel like doing so would limit the convenient elbow room I left you for contemplation. So, UN-like a curator, I am going to shut the hell up and let you do some inventing. No short cuts to thinking around here folks, sorry.

If you'd like to read some more about the concept, check out the original posting of the small scale version- if you click on "CURATING" on the side bar here, under categories, it's probably the only other piece I have under that heading, but hell, who knows. It was interesting for me to go back to, maybe it will be for you too.

THANKS SOOOOO MUCH:

to Chastaine Tallon, Austin Gardener, and Brian Olsen, who assisted me in the major construction of the show, the printing of the pictures, and the distribution of the fliers. Their efforts were crucial to the successful outcome of this event, and I am forever grateful.

The awesome graphic design for the fliers, was compliments of Chastaine Tallon. Chassy specializes in collaborating with artists, so anyone in need of a thoughtful, intelligent, designer that understands the art of design, I highly recommend her services. E-mail me if you need her contact info.

A final thank you, goes to M.A.R.S., for giving me the space to have this show. If it weren't for their trust in my proposal, and their support of my concept, this show couldn't have happened.