STATEMENT
Urban architecture does more than provide shelter for its inhabitants; the unique space of a city also plays a crucial role in the formation of local culture.  It sets the stage for life to occur and creates a framework for communication and movement.  Often, the lifestyle of a city’s residents can be traced back to the physical environment itself.

Like other inhabitants, artists are also affected by the physical space of a city.  Using artists as representatives of local culture, we seek to investigate the relationship between local space and local culture in three distinct urban environments.  The title, 12X36, refers to the twelve selected artists who will each present 36 photographs for the exhibition. 

In contrast to digital photography, which has become commonplace and easily mutable, the invited artists will be asked to capture their local reality using traditional photographic methods, where the physical medium of film and the permanence of the developing process itself is important.  Artists are offered an opportunity to reflect on their surroundings in a uniform medium that may be a departure from their usual means and methods. The photographic medium, and the limit of 36 exposures will give these works a time-bound and immediate quality that will speak of their place, their culture and a specific moment in time.

EXHIBITION
The exhibition features pertinent artifacts and the photographs, but collateral information in the gallery only includes the artists’ name and current place of residence. From a pure visual standpoint, viewers are able to extract basic information about each city. By going to the gallery in person and experiencing the show, viewers participate in a dialogue about local realities. Gallery visitors may be residents of the city or not, but each visitor carries their own background into the gallery and will be affected by each piece in a different way.

In contrast to the specific and direct experience of the gallery exhibition, we are also interested in the non-national space created through the internet. The space created by this online exhibition is physically located in none of the three cities and is therefore an ambiguous neutral space, where work can be objectively compared, examined and thought about in a different way than in the gallery.

PROCESS
Identical 35mm cameras, loaded with one roll of thirty-six exposure color film, have been shipped to the selected artists from 222gallery in Philadelphia. Artists are asked to return the camera and exposed but unprocessed film, which, once received, is developed and printed as an enlarged contact sheet (16x20). This proof is shown to the artist for their selection of three negatives to be enlarged as 11x14 prints. The contact sheet and chosen prints are printed in triplicate, with one set shipped to ArtSpaceHue in Seoul, the other to The Gallery Revisted in Los Angeles, and the third remains in Philadelphia and is exhibited at 222gallery. All work is displayed in a uniform manner across all three galleries. Cameras and other artifacts from the creation of the work will also be on display and opening receptions are held on the same date and time in each city.

In addition to the three exhibitions, this website is a bilingual exhibition space that serves to enhance and support the gallery efforts. This forum contains detailed information about all participants, samples of their work, along with statements about current and past work. This site also provides the artists with the ability to post information throughout the process in the blog section.