Amy Stein - Stranded

MakingRoom Magazine

MakingRoom is about the process, intention and results of image-making. Please use our blog feed to stay up-to-date. Get in touch if you have questions, comments or suggestions.

XDRTB.org — We are the Treatment

When James Nachtwey won the 2007 TED Prize, he announced as his wish:

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

XDRTB.org has launched to work towards fulfilling that wish.

While many people assume TB is a disease of the past, this epidemic kills 1.7 million people annually. Extremely drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) is clearly even more dangerous but the basic issues come down to simple access to testing and treatment for millions of infected people around the world.

James Nachtwey’s photos show the depth and human cost of the epidemic worldwide.

XDRTB.org

Davin — October 3rd, 2008
Posted in Awards, Events, Organizations, People, Video, Websites — Comment
Lay Flat

Remain in Light, the contemporary photography project founded by Karly Wildenhaus and Shane Lavalette has become Lay Flat. The first volume will keep the name Remain in Light and will feature the same 20 artists initially reported here.

Lavalette takes over the primary editorial duties and will work with a guest editor for each subsequent issue. The first issue is made up of 20 unbound photos, three essays, an interview and a poem. The project is expected to have an online release in November but is also still soliciting donations towards its production.

layflat.org

Davin — September 22nd, 2008
Posted in Magazines, People, Websites — Comment
ADC Young Guns 6 Winners

The Art Directors Club has announced the winners in their sixth Young Guns competition. Fifty creative professionals under 30 from 13 countries were chosen. Their winning work is exhibited in the ADC Gallery from Friday, September 5 to Friday, September 19, 2008. Details here.

Their work will also be added to the ADC Young Guns permanent collection online on Monday, September 22. The ADC Young Guns 6 Annual comes out December 2008.

Flak Photo is also presenting images from the Young Guns 6 photographer winners each weekend in September.

adcyoungguns.org
flakphoto.com

Davin — September 6th, 2008
Posted in Awards, Events, Exhibitions, Organizations — Comment
Camera Hero

Dudes. Tighten your headbands and dust off your spandex, Justin James Reed has launched a project that’s critical to our understanding of Contemporary Photography. It’s Air Camera and Justin wants shots of your very best fauxtographic chops. Whether you’re an Eddie Van Nikon or an Yngwie Hasselblad this is the site for you.

Davin — August 22nd, 2008
Posted in People, Websites — Comment
Figment

Here’s a peek at Craig Marshall’s latest short, Figment.

Craig is a Toronto based artist and animator and more of his work can be seen at logosforhobos.com.

Davin — July 20th, 2008
Posted in Uncategorized — Comment
Click! Opens at Brooklyn Museum

Back in March, Brooklyn Museum put out an open call for photos responding to the theme “The Changing Faces of Brooklyn.” The 389 photos submitted, each with a 100-word artist’s statement, were presented online anonymously and randomly for public evaluation in a unique experiment in the wisdom of crowds. Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition is the result of the 410,089 evaluations made. It’s a clustered exhibit of the top 20% of the evaluated works. The exhibition opens today and runs until August 10th.

What’s also interesting is how thoroughly documented and transparent the process has been. It’s clear that organizer Shelley Bernstein, the museum’s Manager of Information Systems, and her team saw this as a chance to examine this type of public evaluation. The exhibition exposes some of the data collected and provides some interesting comparative tools that track things like “evaluator knowledge level”, the level of discussion on each image, and the location of the evaluator.

Image: Claudia Sohrens. Schauplatz # 18 (Greenpoint Warehouse), 2006. All rights reserved

brooklynmuseum.org

Davin — June 27th, 2008
Posted in Events, Exhibitions, Organizations, Websites — Comment
Jonathan Gitelson: Chicago El Stories

Jonathan Gitelson: Chicago El StoriesJonathan Gitelson’s public art project in Chicago’s Armitage Brown Line Station opened today and there is an accompanying website, chicagoelstories.com, which approximates the experience for people who can’t make it to the station. Thankfully, there’s no rush as this is a beautifully conceived permanent element within the station. Jonathan has also posted a quick 360 video of the space on his blog.

On the website, each of the 42 still photos are presented with audio stories of varying lengths. The interviews were conducted between February and April 2007 on the platform of the station. Each passenger was asked to tell a story about their Chicago experience. In the station, the images of the related Chicago locations are paired with excerpts from each person’s story on 20“x24“ glass tiles.

Gitelson’s work is wonderfully varied and high concept with a great personal sense of humour. You need return visits to really take in all of the projects on his website, thegit.net.

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Chicago El Stories also reminds me to mention the Toronto location-based oral history project, Murmur. Shawn Micallef, James Roussel, and Gabe Sawhney began Murmur in Toronto’s Kensington Market in 2003 and it has spawned new locations around the city and around the world.

Davin — June 5th, 2008
Posted in Events, Exhibitions, People, Websites — Comment
Women in Photography Launches

Photo by Elinor CarucciCara Phillips and Amy Elkins have launched their much anticipated Women in Photography site today and their first feature is Elinor Carucci.

“There are more women working in the contemporary photo world then ever before. Their methods, choice of subject matter, visual language, and processes run the gamut of artistic possibility. What unites them is their passion and the effort they devote to creating extraordinary bodies of work. Women in Photography is a showcase for this work. It is also a resource for photographers, editors, curators, gallery owners, and viewers alike to discover and enjoy the work of female artists. By mixing the work of emerging photographers with artists that have achieved high levels of success within fine art and commercial worlds, the project is designed to open a visual dialogue and create a venue to share work, support, and ideas.” — wipnyc.org

Davin — June 3rd, 2008
Posted in Events, Organizations, People, Uncategorized, Websites — Comment
New York Photo Awards 2008

Congratulations to the winners, announced last night, of the inaugural New York Photo Awards.

Student Personal Fine Art Series - Anna Skladman
Student Personal Fine Art Single Image - Alana Celii
Student Book - Tiana Markova-Gold
Student Editorial Series - Tobias Kruse
Student Editorial Single Image - Gratiane de Moustier
Multimedia - Photo/Audio - Two Winners…”The Ninth Floor” by Jessica Dimmock & MediaStorm/”Curse of the Black Gold” by Ed Kashi & MediaStorm
Multimedia - Photo/Video - “Bearing Witness” a Reuters/MediaStorm Collaboration
Personal/Fine Art Series - Edgar Martins
Personal/Fine Art Single Image - Jessica Todd Harper
Editorial Series - Paula Bronstein
Editorial Single Image - Two Winners…Ibraheem Abu Mustafa & Adem Hadei
Photography Book - Amy Stein
Advertising Series - John Offenbach
Advertising Single Image - Jason Bell

Davin — May 17th, 2008
Posted in Awards, Events, People — Comment
MUTO by BLU

A staggering and beautiful work of outdoor art. MUTO by BLU.

blublu.org

Davin — May 12th, 2008
Posted in People, Video — Comment