Motorola wanted to launch a phone in Krakow – in February and they wanted the event to be cool (but not in terms of weather, tricky given the Polish winter). The event was supposed to be about style, design and art, so their agency, The Fish Can Sing, sent me to Poland to come up with a concept that could capture those elements and take the launch beyond the realm of typical corporate junkets.

While the phone being launched wasn’t exactly a design icon, it was a camera phone, so my plan used Krakow’s burgeoning photography scene. I gave the phone to young, local photographers to see how they would use the technology. The resulting launch became a credible art event in the city’s contemporary art center complete with accompanying catalogue contextualizing cell phone photography within the larger history of the medium.

As well as writing and editing the catalogue, I worked closely with the exhibition designer to develop the look of the show and product displays. Finally at the press launch, I introduced the exhibition to the gathered journalists and gave interviews featured on TV and in the European press. After, the company’s European VP was so pleased, he wanted to develop a prize to sponsor other young photographers across Europe, linking creative talent with their technology as an essential communications tool.