Mondo Instante

Current Event Information

MI24

When to take your photo:

MI24image

Translates to: 19:00 UTC*

Submissions: This is a live event, meaning all images are to be posted on the MI24 event page at the time of the event. If you cannot submit your photo via Facebook, you can email it to mentalbeans (at) tuliptreestudios (dot) com by Monday, January 28, 2013 end of day.
Submitting images for the online exhibition:

  1. File naming: Please name the file as your first name followed by MI24 (example: shanMI24.jpg)
  2. Information to include: your location in the world, the time the photo was taken (your time zone), and any information about the photo you wish to be included with your photo in the online photo exhibition.
  3. Send to: mentalbeans (at) tuliptreestudios (dot) com

*If your timezone is not included, please get in touch, or use this time zone converter tool by entering 15:30 UTC on December 8, 2012 as the time, and then enter your location.

Project Summary

Mondo Instante, or MI, is the global photography experiment originally developed by three women on three different continents— North America (Shannon in the Cleveland, Ohio area of the United States), South America (Mecha in Puerto Madrin, Argentina), and Europe (Silvia in Rimini, Italy). Thanks to the wonders of technology and social media the three of us first conceptualized and then hashed out the idea in October of 2010.

To join an MI Event

MI is a synchronized, time-specific global photography event that only lasts only one minute. Watch for the posts here and on Facebook for the announcement of the date and time of the event. When an event is announced, the time is given in UTC time and is then converted for local times for it’s participants all around the world.

At the specified MI event time, participants take a photo of where they are/what they are doing or seeing at that exact moment. Your photo can be pre-planned, or off the cuff. The idea is to create for just a brief moment in time, little windows into the lives of other participants around the world. The photo taking and subsequent viewing is great fun. Even more captivating is that feeling of unity, however brief, that is caused by the simultaneous anticipation that comes with taking part in a coordinated global event.

Sending your photos to Mental Beans for inclusion in the online exhibition

After the event is over, photos are then emailed to the Mental Beans! blog (deadline for submissions will be posted with the announcement) at: mentalbeans (at) tuliptreestudios (dot) com.  Photos will later appear on the Mental Beans! blog and on our Flickr gallery in a group exhibition soon after. All are welcome, and it is the goal of MI to increase participation with every passing event, so please spread the word and to invite your loved ones!

History of the project

The project name itself, Mondo Instante, is a blend of Italian “Mondo” (World) and Spanish “Instante” (Instant)—meaning “the world in an instant”—to honor the native languages of Silvia and Mecha.

The project occurs once every three to four weeks on a predetermined day at a specific time, and lasts only an instant (Mondo Instante!). At this designated singular moment, all participants from points around the world are ready with camera in hand to take a photograph of their immediate environment, whether it be a self portrait, of someone or some object close by, or a panoramic shot of their location. The photos are then submitted, and then finally posted together side by side in an online gallery exhibition here on the blog— little windows into the lives of people all over the world at the same moment in time.

In the first year of Mondo Instante we held 12 events. In that time 80 individual participants sent in photos.

The photos came from 4 continents—Asia, Europe, North America and South America. 13 countries were represented with photos taken in Argentina, Canada, England, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lower Austria, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Serbia, Switzerland and The United States.

2 provinces in Canada participated, which were Alberta and Ontario. In the USA photos came from 19 states from one coast to the other. California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington state all have been photographed.

A total of 284 photos were taken for the MI project so far at the close of MI12. Photos were taken in 64 different cities around the world.

Mondo Instante One Year Celebration! Details and photos from that event

Past photo exhibitions

Here you can view slide shows of past Mondo Instante gallery exhibitions and follow the links to the archived posts for each for detailed information about each photo.

View all Mondo Instante Exhibitions: Mental Beans Archives
View all Mondo Instante Photo Galleries: Flickr

One thought on “Mondo Instante”

  1. Pingback: Sisters Dissonance bringing Mondo Instante to the 2012 Newport Folk Festival « Sisters Dissonance

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