Today’s New York Times brings us the story of Jacques Vidal, an artist who is organizing what he calls a “surrealist county fair” in the Metro Mall in Middle VIllage, Queens. The fair, which takes place April 1, will feature a “chewing gum brain,” erupting volcanoes a la the second grade, and posters and sculptures, all in an “absurd space where all is equal.”

He later said, “The final product will be among the most confusing and jarring public art events in recent memory placed in the context of a forgotten Queens relic.” The exhibit will take place at a food court where all but one restaurant has closed. A partly lighted sign advertises Weight Watchers. Near a GNC and Sam Goody (“Store closing, entire store on sale!”), a cardboard Statue of Liberty beckons one past a storefront dentist to Liberty Tax. A photo booth waits. There is the sweet scent of Subway bread baking.

The story is illustrated with a photostrip of Vidal held in front his face, taken by James Estrin for the New York Times. We hope the organizers are aware of the power the photobooth held for the Surrealists; they can read all about it in this 2004 Guardian article.

Back in January, Photobooth.net was contacted by a BBC reporter for information about the history of the photobooth for the program (or should we say ‘programme’) You and Yours. I went into the lovely studios of WXXI here in Rochester, New York to do an interview with the reporter, Liza Booth, on January 23. It was a new experience for me, a trans-Atlantic digital link-up during which we chatted about photobooths, my interest, the website, and their history. Last Friday, March 24, the episode, called “The thriving face of photo booths,” finally aired.

The story, which runs nearly ten minutes, details the history of the photobooth, its current incarnations, and a few of the films in which photobooths have made appearances. Photobooth artist, collector, and Photobooth Convention founder Steve Howard, a.k.a. Mixup is featured, as well as “historian for Photobooth.net,” yours truly. You can either listen to the BBC’s Real Audio link or to our mp3: The thriving face of photo booths (1.7 mb mp3, 9:27)

Since we began blogging all things photobooth here a year ago, we’ve used a variety of sources to get our information. One of the more entertaining is the Flickr feed for photos tagged with the word “photobooth,” which often includes some great photostrips from around the country, and occasionally the Flickr member will be kind enough to name the location, so we can add it to our massive ‘to do’ list of places to visit. 

Recently, though, first with the introduction of Apple’s “Photo Booth” software, and then with the advent of Shine SF’s photobooth that publishes digital photos through Flickr, the stream has become clogged with photos that, while fun, aren’t really what we’re looking for. That’s why it’s been a pleasant surprise, for the last few months now, to be witness to the growing phenomenon that is Photobooth Friday.

As Photobooth Friday founder Andrea at hula seventy writes, 

…because I love photobooths and I love fridays. I think the two should kiss and make nice and be all lovey-dovey with each other and become like, the hot new couple on campus. if you haven’t already figured it out, I am unnaturally obsessed with photobooths. am thinking that this weekly feature may be just the perfect outlet for my borderline kooky fixation. I’ll be pulling goodies from my ever-growing collection of both personal and vintage found photobooth snapshots. will blissfully share with all who are willing to revel in 35 years of photobooth love. 

That was January, and since then, every Friday, more and more photobooth photos have shown up either linked in her weekly post (the most recent is here) or tagged with “photoboothfriday” in Flickr. 

Thanks to Andrea for giving a shout out to the site in her blog, and for organizing this weekly treat. It’s only Tuesday, so you’ve got time to get your photos ready for this Friday’s installment, and help put some real and interesting photobooth photos out in the Flickr world. 

The photobooth gallery exhibit entitled “A $3 Love Affair” has extended its deadline for submissions until April 1, and changed the opening date to April 8. Brian blogged about the show in late February.

In conjunction with a new exhibition of the paintings of David Hockney, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has temporarily installed a photobooth, the Boston Globe reports. In the article, which centers on the photobooth itself rather than the exhibtion, reporter Deborah Fineblum Raub describes the booth as an opportunity to make art after seeing it, “at $2 a pop.” More than 1500 visitors have used the booth since it was installed when the exhibition opened in February. MFA Director Malcolm Rogers, through a spokeswoman, is quoted saying 

Our vintage photo booth allows our visitors — compelled by the candidness and immediacy of Hockney’s portraits — to create their own black and white portraits.

The exhibition closes May 14, 2006; I’ll be visiting in April when I’m next in Boston, and invite any of our Hub-area readers to do the same and let us know how it goes. 

This week’s Gothamist interview is with advice columnist Judy McGuire, who writes the Dategirl column in the Seattle Weekly. The accompanying photo of McGuire is a great black and white photobooth shot, perhaps taken at one of the many Seattle-area photobooth locations. 

Babbette Hines strikes again, this time with dogs. In issue #33 of Bark Magazine, she contributes a number of dog photobooth pictures from her collection. Unfortunately the magazine is no longer on shelves, and we are still trying to track down a copy. If any one of you has this issue, we’d appreciate a scan.

Thanks to Monte and Angel for the tip!

While we’re not sure where to file it on Photobooth.net, it is also worth mentioning that Chronicle Books published postcard versions of some of the images from Babbette’s book.

The Padlock Gallery in Philadelphia is preparing for a show focusing on the photobooth experience, and are looking for submissions. The show, called “A $3 Love Affair,” will feature hundreds of photostrips, pictures that use the booth in “unprecedented” ways. Submissions are due by April 1, 2006, and the show opens on April 8th.

They’ve got such a good little blurb about the photobooth experience that we’ll quote some of it whole, right here:

…when the flashes start going, your mind is nowhere but there, concealed in that tiny, unique environment, elevated to some other state with a rush of adrenaline; and suddenly, the rules are different- you’re only separated from the natural world by a small piece of fabric; but for some reason, that’s enough; and within the walls of the photobooth, acquaintances become friends, friends become lovers, serious people become goofballs, everyone becomes part of the same team; and then that’s it- it’s all over so quick and you can’t even recall what just happened as you stand waiting for what seems like an eternity for your photos to drop in that slot (which really makes you start to question if it did happen at all!); and they finally do, and they’re wet and smell funny, and you pass them around and laugh, or maybe you tuck them inside a notebook to secretly savor or reflect upon at some later date.

The show has the following submission guidelines:

• Submit as many photobooth strips as you want. There is no limit! Do it by March 20, 2006

• Will only accept submissions created on or within actual photobooth strips (not accepting digitally manipulated strips, photobooth stickers, photocopied strips, or any other form of reproduction …paint on’em, scratch your tag on it, whut ev’s… just give us the OG strips, OK?)

We particularly appreciate the last one, and look forward to seeing what the Padlock gets. Thanks to Mike for letting us know about the show. We expect to see some photos from the opening, and we’d love to hear what the show is like from some Photobooth.net readers.

With a recent re-entry into the world of Netflix, I’ve got a clutch of new entries to the Movies and TV section of the site. From 1987, we begin with Best Seller, starring Brian Dennehy and James Woods. Then, we have the Philip Kaufman adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel Rising Sun. Next, the teen black comedy Jawbreaker from 1999. Then, from 2001, the Adrien Brody vehicle Love the Hard Way. And who can forget Terminal Velocity, starring Charlie Sheen? And finally, we have Prom Queen, a Canadian TV movie from 2004. Rising Sun, Jawbreaker, and Prom Queen feature only photostrips, but the other three have legitimate photobooth appearances.

In addition, I came across the supposed “photo booth” sequence in the recent Land of the Dead. The oft-mentioned “photo booth” scene, which featured the men behind the recent homage Shaun of the Dead, wasn’t really a photobooth scene. I can’t think of a much better name for it, though, so I don’t blame those who described it as such in the press. It’s a brief scene featuring a “get your photo taken with a zombie” attraction at a carnival. Carnivalgoers pose in front two zombies, chained to a metal rack, as a cameraman takes a photo — it’s no photobooth, but it “zombie photo op” doesn’t have much of a ring to it.

International corporation Photo-Me is back in the news this week, this time with some good news: they’ve sealed a deal with the Post Office in the UK. The deal, worth £5m, calls for Photo-Me to supply “digital media kiosks for the self-service printing of photographs” to post offices around the UK. A newratings.com article on the same subject states that the move “sees the company regain most of the UK markets share lost to Snap Digital,” the company’s primary competitor.