• by November 28, 2006

What? Give up your cell phone for the evening? Not possible, you say. And yet that’s what hundreds of people did last month during the (CLL) PHN-LCKN staged at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

The Cell Phone Lockdown, run by LVHRD, a semi-secret creative society, required participants to check their phones upon entry to the museum. Participants placed their phones in numbered plastic Ziploc bags and then donned plastic wristbands that bore the corresponding number. Technicians clad in white jumpsuits affixed each bag to a massive wall. LVHRD documented the action on the cell phone wall through stop motion photography; participants observed as message alert lights, ringtones, and vibrations went off.

MoMA invited guests to enjoy “Out of Time: A Contemporary View,” an exhibition exploring how technological advances manipulate perceptions of time in the contemporary world. The event took place during the museum’s PopRally series and featured a concert by art rock band Les Savy Fav. Sponsors included Brooklyn Brewery, Dewar’s, and Vitamin Water. For more information, go to http://lvhrd.org.