WE ARE THE ASTEROID III, 2019

Text, sandblasted solar-powered LED message board, black rust patina

Timothy Morton, Rita Shea

152 x 84 x 103 in | 385 x 213 x 262 cm

• Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, TX

• Buffalo Bayou Sculpture Park, Houston, TX

• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, WE ARE THE ASTEROID III, San Francisco, CA, 2019

WE ARE THE ASTEROID III is a conceptual, text-based artwork by Brooklyn-based artist Justin Brice Guariglia (b. 1974). One of a series, the repurposed highway sign features texts by Rice Professor Timothy Morton, Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English and author of HYPEROBJECTS: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World, among other publications.

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This solar-powered LED message board – like those typically found at construction sites – alerts viewers to slow down and beware of dangers ahead. Instead of road conditions, however, the board features aphorisms calling attention to ecological issues such as “TRIASSIC WEATHER AHEAD,” “WARNING: HURRICANE HUMAN” and “WE ARE THE ASTEROID.” Through poetry, metaphor, and humor, audiences are drawn into the conversation, prompting diverse discussions about the planetary crisis.