【afro eroticism】

Imagine if President Trump's tweets provoked calm and afro eroticismbeauty rather than rage and fury.

Such a realm really exists, though you'll have to slink beneath New York City to find it.

A subterranean exhibition in Manhattan's Midtown neighborhood features hundreds of lavender plants and a lighting system powered by Twitter streams. When @realDonaldTrump or @POTUS fires off an early-morning musing, the small room's ceiling glows. As statements are retweeted, the fluorescent bulbs brighten to match the growing intensity.

SEE ALSO: Dramatic Venice sculpture comes with a big climate change warning

Martin Roth, an Austrian-born artist based in New York, said he wanted to address the "heightened anxiety" that's pervaded ever since Trump was elected last November. Not only have Trump's policies and rhetoric put people on edge -- the flurry of news alerts, constant scandals, and he-said-she-said debates are also compounding our collective stress.

"The pace and tenor of the current political discourse, blasted out through social media 24/7 without respite, affects our psyche in a profound way," Roth said in an email.

"I'm interested in Twitter because it seemed to be the only news getting through. It's fast and used as a political weapon, but ... it seems overall just to be there to distract us," he said.

In the exhibit, leafy lavender plants provide a potent antidote to the endless, stressful social media streams. As controversy builds on Twitter and the lights reach full-blast, the lavender plants bloom, filing the small gallery space with their soothing perfume.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

"The plant's restorative effect is important for me; it offers a reprieve against the heightened anxiety of our current moment," Roth said.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

His installation -- formally titled "In May 2017 I cultivated a piece of land in Midtown Manhattan nurtured by tweets" -- is at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York through June 21.

Eight tons of soil cover the main gallery's floor, while printed wallpaper simulates a verdant, vibrant forest. The heady scent of lavender, combined with crescendoing buzz of fluorescent lights, creates an unsettling juxtaposition, one art writer said.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"The total effect is less an immersion into the woods, and more a sojourn into a doomsday bunker of the One-Percent," Kate Sutton wrote in an essay shared on the forum's website. "Any calm this environment induces is innately tinged by suspicion of its circumstances."

Using a tiny Raspberry Pi computer, Roth synced the grow lights to correspond with the activities of about 20 Twitter accounts, which are all tied to Trump in one way or another.

Tweets from embattled White House press secretary Sean Spicer (@presssec, @whitehouse) and Trump's trusted adviser Kellyanne Conway (@kellyannepolls) also power the system. So do Trump's preferred news sources (@foxandfriends, @seanhannity, @tuckercarlson) and places that helped shape Trump's political ideology (@breitbartnews, @heritage).

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The handles of mainstream media outlets, including @CNN, @washingtonpost, and @foxnews, are also linked to the lavender room's set-up.

"I see this group and its behavior (tweets/online activity) and the people that retweet the messages as a virtual organism," Roth said. "So the lights make the activity of this organism visible."

The installation would be a clever play on this political moment even without the tweets. The Austrian Cultural Forum's gallery in Manhattan is located mere blocks from Trump Tower.

[H/t Hyperallergic]

---

Featured Video For You

---

China's big, beautiful, green 'vertical forests' will suck up toxic smog

---

• Life
• Entertainment
• Tech
• Social Good
• Games
• Deals
• Shopping
• Digital Culture

• Researchers map the koala genome in the name of saving the species
• Nevada eliminates tampon tax in leap forward for menstruation equality
• Jeff Sessions got fired, and the jokes are too good
• New Arizona law makes it illegal to film officers from within 8 feet
• Best keyboard deals: Save on Asus gaming keyboards at Amazon
• Wordle today: Here's the July 15 Wordle answer and hints
• 12 websites all college students should bookmark
• Trump said he doesn't know who Lil Jon is, so here are photos of them together
• Nvidia RTX 5070: Where to buy and is it worth the upgrade?
• Scent Lab founder Ariana Silvestro talks about starting a company

• Macaroon vs. Macaron: Cookie Summit 2015
• Literary Feuds: John Irving and J. P. Donleavy
• Staff Picks: Bernard Berenson, Olivia Laing, Timothy Denevi
• Best GoPro deal: Save $50 on the HERO11 at Amazon
• The cringiest things tech executives said in 2021, from Mark Zuckerberg to Elon Musk
• Photos from Our 2015 Spring Revel
• CDC's new COVID rules inspire Twitter meme full of terrible fake advice
• Can You Spot the Fake Books at Shakespeare and Company?
• Best Starbucks deal: Buy a $25 eGift card, get a free $5 eGift card
• Meta might finally bring WhatsApp to iPad

• Why Building a Gaming PC Right Now is a Bad Idea, Part 3: Bad Timing
• Trump slams 'stupid question' from female reporter, calls April Ryan a 'loser'
• How an app developer helped Alexandria Ocasio
• Snoop Dogg smoked a blunt in front of the White House in a very rebellious stunt
• Big-League Bluster
• The New York Times' election needle is broken and people are jonesing hard
• A resourceful student turned to Tinder for help studying for her midterm
• 'Gone in the Night' review: Winona Ryder's sci
• Against Fear
• How to make an emoji background in iOS 16

• Apple is actively looking at AI search for Safari
• 'New Yorker' cover celebrates the 100+ women coming to Congress
• How an app developer helped Alexandria Ocasio
• Being pregnant on the internet sucks
• Music is the secret weapon of Mario Speedrunners
• How to get a secret phone number to protect your digital privacy
• Hands on with Stage Manager in Apple's macOS Ventura
• Hands on with Stage Manager in Apple's macOS Ventura
• Best Amazon deal: Get a $5 Amazon credit when you spend $30 on home essentials
• Ariana Grande just turned one of her most famous song lyrics on its head