Monaliza Noor of the Persian Bureau of the Voice of America did this feature on the Orange County Center For Contemporary Art exhibit of iPhone photography that ran through April of 2011 in Santa Ana, California. It was broadcast throughout the Middle East and on Persian cable channels in the USA in late May and early June of 2011.
Here is a transcript of the script:
Anchor Intro:
In the first three months of this year (2nd fiscal quarter), Apple sold more than 18 million iphones worldwide- a new record. While the presence of iphones continues to grow, so has its functionality with a myriad of applications adding to its appeal. In this next report we take a look at a new way the iphone camera is creating what some are calling a new art form. We have this report from southern California accompanied with music by Knox Bronson.
TRACK:
It’s called iphonography, a new medium in which photos are taken and processed solely with the iphone.
TRACK:
Knox Bronson is co-creator of “Pixels: The Art of iPhone Photography” exhibit that recently ended its 4-week run here at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art.
The photos can only be altered through iphone applications or apps. The applications can distort the image and alter the saturation, contrast, and lighting of the image. Some photos here reflect the use of one application, while others reflect as many as six or seven.
SOT: KNOX BRONSON, Co-curator, Pixels
They’re a lot of arguments about whether or not it’s photography, I don’t think it really is, it starts with the photographic process but then it goes somewhere else
TRACK:
The idea for the exhibit started in 2009 when Bronson, a web designer, artist and composer, began realizing the multitude of iphone photos surfacing on sites like Flick’r,
SOT:
I’ve studied art my whole life and I thought this is like a new medium- so that’s when I got the idea for the show (34:40).
TRACK:
The first iphonography exhibit occurred back in 2009 when Bronson, a web designer, artist and composer, developed the website, PixelsAtAnExhibition.com and put out a call for submissions.
Since, there have been four physical exhibits and several Apple store events. But the website, PixelsAtAnExhibition.com continues to serve as an evolving virtual exhibit where iphonographers from around the world can submit their photos.
But not all photos submitted are posted on the site, the curator being Bronson himself.
TRACK:
Jeff Alu is Assistant Director at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art as well a contributing iphonographer and co-curator of the exhibit.
Alu calls iphonography “an evolution of digital” and says it’s just a matter of time before it is accepted as a new art form.
SOT: JEFF ALU, Assistant Director, OCCA, Co-Curator of Pixels
I think what it’s going to do is you’re going to have people who would never think of being artists trying to be artists or being artists, cause all it really takes is something to perk their imagination, and they can say oh I can capture this in a way that nobody else can and I can do it all on my iphone (52:40).
TRACK:
Among other places, Bronson has received photos from Hungary, Japan, and Russia but none yet from Iran or the Middle East.
As for the website, PixelsAtAnExhibition.com, Bronson says he would like to integrate social networking onto the site and create a virtual space for the expanding iphonography community.
TRACK:
To view recent iphone photos and to find out about upcoming exhibits, viewers can visit the website PixelsAtAnExhibition.com.
