Press Release:

Mottel_Mottel; The Image is a Seed

mhPROJECTnyc

September 13 - 30th, 2018.

For two hours a day, over the span of fourteen days, Matthew Mottel will present his father Syeus Mottel’s entire archive of 35mm color slides in the heart of the East Village. This work will function as a public ‘image shiva’ for the collection of approximately 3000 slides all shot by Syeus between 1967 and 1975.

Much of the archive has not be seen by anyone in decades, including the artist. By choosing a public forum in which to present this archive, Matthew will transform a yet unexamined cultural history into a social and artistic happening. This action will serve as a regenerating trigger to connect communities with a cultural history, as well as activate the archive through a collaborative process. Each image will be projected once, with no repeated viewing of any singular image.

Matthew has invited those connected to both his and his father’s cultural networks to participate and respond to this presentation; intertwining their own histories and performance practice into a new archive.

Two video cameras will record these daily viewings. One fixed on the projected image and the second capturing the performance, invited viewers and public as they respond to what they are seeing in real time. Using these recordings, as well as elements of painting, sculpture and sound Matthew will develop a new artwork, Reverberant Images, as the exhibition and archive unfold.

https://youtu.be/ga9_zH3xFCs