The mundane made special

zexe.net

a mobile/multimedia communication project, intended for groups without active presence in the mainstream media

canal*INVISIBLE
prostitutes broadcast from mobile phones
MADRID 2005

canal*GITANO
gypsies broadcast from mobiles
LEON 2005 / LLEIDA 2005

sitio*TAXI
taxi drivers broadcast from cell phones
MEXICO DF 2004

There are plenty of interesting media democracy projects for wireless, but something about involving people from mobile and/or invisible cultures seems particularly appropriate. It's interesting to see mobility captured (and the invisible made visible) in still photos, while audio and video files add a sense of duration.

I have reservations about "letting" the disenfranchised speak and see, and the greater "authenticity" of their own perspectives, but these collections are strangely embodied and material - and consequently quite humanising - in their content. The oral histories and songs of the Roma (Gypsies) are juxtaposed with pictures of family and friends, celebrations, market stalls, cooking pots and jewelry. The prostitutes eye clothes, shoes, other bodies, streets and political rallies. The taxi drivers see cars, roads, billboards and licenses. It's the mundane, the everyday, made special. The physical made digital.

(via)