Cell Phone features 30 artists and artist collectives representing the range of artworks being created with and for a mobile phone device.
Some of the works in Cell Phone take the form of a sculptural object, like Beatrice Valentine Amrhein's Videos Lustre which features dozens of cell phones hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier, each running a short film on the cell phone's screen. Other works, like TXTual Healing by Paul Notzold, or cell:block by URBANtells, invite the audience to contribute content to a work through SMS or photos sent from their cell phones.
Another category of works include those that involve downloading a program, a video, or an image to your mobile device. Angie Waller's clip.fm, for example, expands the communicative possibilities of cell phones through a series of narrative animations that can be downloaded and sent to friends instead of a text message. Other works like Mark Shepard's Tactical Sound Garden or Blast Theory's Uncle Roy All Around You allows audience members to participate with others in an interactive performance. Making a call from a cell phone will connect visitors with yet another group of works in the exhibition. Talking on a cell phone while walking through Informationlab's room-sized installation Cell Phone Disco, for example, will make visible the aura of an active cell phone's signal by creating a trace of blinking lights on the gallery walls. In other works, a phone number will be given to access pieces such as Steve Bradley's Call & Response: HydroSistrum which will invite visitors to dial a number to listen to data related to the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay, including information about water quality, currents, and temperature.
The exhibition runs January 21 - April 22, 2007.