The Mechanical Copula

The Mechanical Copula is a solo authored collection of twenty short stories. The book was produced during my roles as Writer-in-Residence at Whitechapel Gallery (London, 2009-10) and Critic-in-Residence at Kadist Art Foundation (Paris, 2008-9), working on site with contemporary art works from both institutions' exhibitions and collections. Utilising fiction as a tool for critical art writing, the stories explore and embody an experimental relationship between text and visual work. They are concerned with acting concurrently 'with' rather than 'about' art, to present a fictional figuration of the art works' conceptual content. The Mechanical Copula was selected by Editions Ere for their international literature translation series Collection Littérature étrangère. Published in French, as Copulation Mechanique, Paris: Editions Ere, translated by Maxime Berree and Emilie Noteris. ISBN 978 2 915453 88 1. Supported by a Creative Development Residency in Cove Park, Scotland, 2010, and launched in at Artissima (Turin, 2010), The Goethe Institute (Dublin, 2010) and The Institute of Contemporary Art (London, 2011).‘Maria is creating a vanguard in the relationship between language and visual arts that is undoubtedly of significance.’ Kit Hammonds, Curating Department, Royal College of Art