ROME Arts
103 Havemeyer St.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 388-2009
ROMEarts@yahoo.com

Presents:

MTAA’s ”In Preparation For The Summer Air In Brooklyn To Rise From The Concrete In A Manner That Distorts Our Ability To Judge Distance And Meaning (AKA Manual Zoom Mirage)”

July 12 - August 10, 2003

Opening reception: Saturday, July 12th, 7-10 PM

Please note: the show will only be viewable from the street during gallery hours. Appointments may be made to view the work within the gallery by calling 718-389-8460

ROME Arts is pleased to present a solo show by the artist collaborative MTAA entitled, ”In Preparation For The Summer Air In Brooklyn To Rise From The Concrete In A Manner That Distorts Our Ability To Judge Distance And Meaning (AKA Manual Zoom Mirage).”

The site-specific artwork has 4 components:

  1. A postcard announcement that is a 1:8 scale replica of the ”actual artwork”1;
  2. The ”actual artwork”;
  3. A prediction of the hottest temperature ever recorded in the US to take place in Brooklyn during the summer of 2003;
  4. The hot summer air of Brooklyn.

The components constitute a work that touches on several themes. First, MTAA explores the plasticity of information. Presenting the information in two distinct sizes and formats the artists create a hierarchy in their audience between those with access to the physical (or "actual") artwork, those with access only to the postcard version of it, and those with access to both. Second, MTAA touches on the disorienting effect of looking through these different layers of information overlap by comparing it to heat waves coming off pavement. Third, the artists transform the gesture of the "prediction" into an artistic gesture. Inevitably the prediction will fail. The concept of failure is often the "background music" to MTAA's work.

MTAA (M.River & T.Whid Art Associates) is a Brooklyn, New York-based conceptual and net art collaboration. Their examinations of networked culture, the economics of art, digital materials, and the institutional art world take the form of web sites, installations, sculptures, and photographic prints. Their work has been commissioned by The Alternative Museum, Creative Time, and The Whitney Museum of American Art's Artport web site and has been exhibited by PS1 Art Center, The Walker Art Center and Eyebeam Atelier.





1 ”Actual artwork” being in quotes as the ”really” actual artwork is the sum of the components listed.