what I would do if I was a photographer

For Which It Stands, Zoe Leonard, 2003

This image is of an installation photographer Zoe Leonard made at Mass MoCA for the show called Yankee Remix back in 2003. I don't remember how I came upon documentation of this, but it was something that has stuck with me. Apparently, the show was in collaboration with the Boston-based Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, and Zoe's contribution was this minimal postcard rack of photographs she made of objects from the museum's collection. As you can see, museum goers were invited to take a postcard and leave a donation.

I am drawn to the idea of mass producing artwork and making it accessible in this way. But instead of placing the rack in a gallery or museum and having it make a statement that is "meant to comment on American constructs of capitalism, militarism, racism, industriousness, recreation and such" (as quoted from a review of the show by the New York Times), I think it would be great to just put it in a public place that is unrelated to the art world and its ability to make things like this seem "ironic". Like the local laundromat or somewhere like that. It would just be nice. Don't you think?