Ah, yes. The abandoned blog. Seen tens of thousands of times throughout the life of the internet. This blog was awesome at helping promote the inaugural Los Angeles Mobile Arts Festival in 2012. It’s essential for us to have a place where all the pertinent info is located, but is also simple to maintain. I used it as a tool to keep folks updated on some of the behind the scenes action, to connect with people who were in the show, and others who were unable to make the trip this year.
Since the show closed last year I abandoned the blog in lieu of other tasks that were somewhat of a higher priority. Stuff like packing up the gallery, coordinating the shipping of unsold artwork back to the artists who created it (which is about 1000x easier said than done, I’ve discovered), as well as maintaining the day-to-day operations of iPhoneArt and our other ambitious ventures– iPrints and our mobile apps. All while also finding time to make a little money at my day job to pay the rent and keep the grocery fund in check….
…But now what?
The biggest question people had while enjoying the 2012 festival was, “Will there be another one?” I did my best to dodge that question as much as possible, both with the media, and in casual conversations I had with fellow mobile photography enthusiasts. “We’re just taking it one day at a time,” I would say. “We just want to enjoy this one, and get the most out of it as we can. Then we will start to think about other things down the road.”
All true statements. I meant them all sincerely, no matter how generic or canned the responses may have sounded at the time.
And while I’m not at liberty to report any specific events for the future, I feel I can say there are a lot of interesting opportunities popping up here and there that I am extremely excited about, to say the least. I think the success of this event opened the eyes of a lot of people about the potential of our emerging industry, and the passion behind the people who are leading it.
So until we have official word on what our next move is in terms of a large scale art exhition, what should we do with this blog?
I like the blog a lot– the design, and the idea of it. It does get a lot of traffic and many people are following it. So I pose this question specifically to you– the reader. What would you like to see us do with this space moving forward? I have a handful of ideas, some of which I’ll share below, but I’d like to get your take.
I personally feel like it best serves the community to keep the blog focused on what it was intended for. I like having it be art centric, and focused on LA-MAF. But maybe it is a good idea to open it up to talk about more exhibits and events that are happening around the world. Maybe it can be a place where we can share things that are happening in connection with this festival. I personally had a few opportunities to speak at conferences this year, and I feel that was directly related to the success of the festival and iPhoneArt. I’ve seen a lot of artist’s work, some of which premiered at LA-MAF, grace the cover of magazines, published in books, and featured in prestegious gallery shows all over the world. I think it would be cool to share some of those happenings here on this blog.
I also like the idea of outreach. Meetups and workshops that help us refine our craft. Opportunities to create, and to learn how to create from one another. Helping each other build a portfolio of content for the next big exhibition or creative project. After all, that was another tier of the festival that I was proud we were able to do, even in our first year. I think those kinds of “offline” activities are not only a blast to participate in, but also important in helping us grow as artists. I’d like to find a way to promote them here, and even host a few myself.
Comments
Can’t wait to see what’s next!
The big show was fabulous and doing another would be, too. But I know the amount of work involved and it can burn a person out. So smaller shows, sharing opportunities, meet-ups, would be fun. And as it’s about the art, sharing app info and techniques is something I look for on the individual artist pages.
Excited to hear what’s next! Thinking of ideas…
sorry I do not speak English, use google translator
I would like an opportunity to exchange with mobile craft artists. A learner’s space for debate and the post-processing techniques. To have a virtual gallery for exhibiting our art.