MXXXIV - Lumen Crypt Gallery Residency

MXXXIV was a site specific collaborative residency in Lumen Collective' Crypt Gallery. Working with fellow artists Melissa and Ludovica Colacinoto to facilitate and curate in a listed building. 'MXXXIV is a precise measurement. Above ground, an invisible line of MXXXIV kilometres connects Italy and the United Kingdom. This slice of Earth is less than a speck of dust when seen from the Sun. On Earth, however, that imaginary line is long enough to follow the roundness of the planet, connecting two Countries at different latitudes and longitudes, two places that receive the same sunlight differently. Oscillating between mathematical accuracy and cosmic confusion, MXXXIV refers to the locality of the two extremes of the line; aside from their distance, the Roman number - a Latinism - counts six digits like a London postcode. As they observed the light from different locations, the artists Melissa Fry, Martha Gray, and Ludovica Colacino the distance between one another by looking at the hour difference between Italy and the United Kingdom. By agreeing shooting times, they used the Sun and the Moon as guides to connect themselves and compare continental differences through their own arts of screenprinting, cyanotype, and writing. Crafted from analogue photography, this interdisciplinary exhibition meditates on the tangibility of time and distance between two places.'