“Social media is the enemy of art.”
– Knox Bronson
Pixels at an Exhibition is live and back online after a two year hiatus. The site was and still is under the curation of artist and musician Knox Bronson. Pixels quickly became a major hub for the art of iPhoneography and the progression of mobile photography. Having Pixels back in any form is a big deal.
Tap here to visit PixelsatanExhibition.com
Along with Glyn Evans’ The iPhonegraphy Blog, Life In LoFi, EYE’EM, and Edi Caves’ iPhoneOgenic, Pixels was among the first big spots on the web to feature iPhoneography, not only online but with the art’s first real-world, brick and mortar exhibitions and events as well. Like this one. And this one. And this one. The iPhoneography Blog and iPhoneOgenic are now long gone and EYE’EM has moved past its mobile roots into an expanded photography resource.
It’s hard to believe that the art of iPhoneography is about 10 and a half years old (at the time of this writing). Pixels has covered nearly all of it. Because it’s been around for so long and Knox’s propensity to save everything, Pixels has amassed a huge collection of iPhone photography and iPhone art — over 29,000 images and works. It is one of the most extensive histories of the electronic art anywhere.
Back in the early days of iPhoneography, the photos were low resolution and low fidelity. There were only just dozens of good photo apps. Creating art on the iPhone often felt like working on a very small canvas with a very large brush. Dig back through PIXELS’s earliest archives. Most of those works still hold up.
Knox and I have remained friends over the years. On a personal note, I truly believe that without his feedback and guidance, the art of mobile photography might have taken a very different, less artistic turn in its formative years. Yeah, the case can be made that someone else might have stepped up to that position regardless, but Knox did a lot to set the creative bar pretty high. I’m happy to discuss this opinion more in the comments section below.
The site has new forums and old Pixels social network accounts are still active. New submissions and classic photos are being posted and shared.
Tap here to go to Pixels. You owe it to yourself to have a look. The updated site is still working out some bugs, but it’s nonetheless an interesting look back at the art.
PIXELS 2019, updated website screenshot
Here’s the press release from January 8, 2019 with all the details:
PIXELS IS ON ON ON
From: Knox Bronson <knox@knoxbronson.com>
PIXELS IS ON ON ON. That’s right, the most eagerly anticipated site relaunch of all time has finally come to pass.
It only took me a year-and-a-half to get the site back up, once I decided to do it.
You may or may not care if Pixels at an Exhibition is back up, but I do.
If nothing else, it is the seven-year and counting, twenty-nine thousand+ images archive and record of the early years of the iphoneographic art movement, as we burst out into the world.
When I took the site down two years ago, I was spent. Living in this awful town in the Central Valleys in a glorified shack (that part didn’t bother me, actually) by myself (that part did). I built a community garden while I was there, which is still going strong.
But as far as Pixels went, I had reached the end of my rope, financially and emotionally. I just reread the email I sent out back then. I clearly wasn’t in a good space, as they say.
After six months, I missed Pixels.
I started really missing Pixels.
I missed everything about it, the great pictures, the people, the searchability, the videos, the articles, and the lack of censorship.
Social media is the enemy of art. I don’t about you, but I just get depressed when I get on Facebook. I don’t find Instagram much better. I hate the way ALL of them present images: no respect for artists or their art.
I know, I’m an old fart: you can see this clearly in the picture.
It still took a year-and-a-half to get the site back up. Sorry!
You should still be able to log in if you want to. The reason to do that would be so you could post images to your own page, which would show up in The Present section on the site. I’m doing light curating into the main timeline from there, as well.
There are also forums. Remember the forums on iphoneart.com? Well, if you want forums again, they are available. I think we could make groups, too. But only if you want.
Will Pixels be a social network someday? Only if enough people want it. Aren’t you sick of the other social sites? Help a build one just for artists! But it’s up to you.
I’m just going to enjoy reposting old stuff I love – it’s easy to spend an hour looking though the archives. So much incredible work, all in one place.
I’m going to do some other stuff to have fun and once again piss off all the right people, but even better this time.
If you do decide to join in the fun again, please read these articles: Why Register & Login? and Debugging Pixels.
The word P1XELS is being retired, except for a possible continuation of the magazine. It will be “Pixels,” going forward. Long Live Pixels at an Exhibition!
