AN EXHIBITION ORGANIZED BY TODD MCLELLAN AND THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION EXHIBITION SERVICES (SITES)
February 28 – May 2, 2021
Gallery Sponsors: Hunt and Donna Bonan
Exhibit Sponsors: Dr. Dan and Linda Hoffman | Doug and Debby Kroeschen
Members’ Preview Reception: Saturday, February 27 | 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Preview Reception Admission: $5.00 | Cedarhurst Members – free
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT:
A quarter-inch-thick smartphone can be used as a watch, a camera, a theater, a map and even a mobile bank. “Things Come Apart,” a traveling exhibition circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and featuring the works of creative photographer and tinkerer Todd McLellan, looks inside the evolutions of the smartphone and dozens of other everyday technologies.
Through more than 40 captivating photographs, videos and objects encased in acrylic, “Things Come Apart” displays the complex parts that have spurred revolutions in product design and functionality across multiple industries and the staying power of classic designs, from the ever-changing navigational systems to the evergreen bicycle. McLellan spent countless hours disassembling objects of all sizes and functions—from a watch to a laptop and a Walkman to an upright piano—with painstaking precision into hundreds or even thousands of pieces. With each object fully stripped to its bare parts, he methodically worked backwards, laying out each item in reverse order from the protective case to the smallest circuits until the true scope of each design was captured. The resulting images, grouped alongside other items built for similar purposes, provide a visual history lesson of mechanical innovation and highlight the contrast between old-world craftsmanship and sleek modern engineering.
