Telepoesis is an installation comprised of a digital telescope and a poem printed on a plaque. The poem, placed far from the telescope, only can be read through the telescope. For the 2002 Biennial that took place at El Museo del Barrio in New York, Merhi fixed the plaque on the top of the main gate of Central Park's Conservatory Garden, located in front of the Museum. The gate, forged in Paris in 1894 for the Vanderbilt mansion, was given by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney Museum, to the City of New York in 1939. Merhi installed the telescope in front of a gallery window and pointed the telescope at the plaque.

With Telepoesis the outside and inside space fade out. In this context, the museum functions as an agency to access the text situated beyond its own boundaries. The poem, written by the artist at the Conservatory Garden, becomes a metaphoric mirror that can be seen from the distance, mediated by technology. Poetry, of course, plays a vital role since the poem is in itself the work of art. And the act of reading the poem turns into a poetic experience.

Collection: Private