Audio-Technica, a leading innovator in transducer technology for over 50 years, has
announced that it is a sponsor of Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia, the first
comprehensive retrospective of the Akron, Ohio native’s work, at the Akron Art
Museum. Mothersbaugh is one of the founding members of the boundary-shattering
rock group DEVO, as well as composer for TV shows and movies including The
Rugrats, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the film
adaptation of 21 Jump Street and its sequel, and many others. Mothersbaugh
attended Kent State University as an art student and has been creating art for more
than forty years – before DEVO’s inception in the early 1970’s.
Myopia is being presented jointly at the Akron Art Museum and the Museum of
Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA) and runs from May 27 through August 28,
2016. Myopia is a career-spanning traveling exhibition of Mothersbaugh’s creative
output and includes works on paper, sculptures, installations, music and videos,
spanning his years as a founder of DEVO to his ongoing present-day work as a
visual artist and composer.
In addition to providing financial support for the exhibition, Audio-Technica supplied
audio products for the exhibit’s listening stations, including their ATH-M20x
Professional Monitor Headphones, where attendees can hear music composed by
Mothersbaugh including selections from The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic
with Steve Zissou, The Lego Movie and more.
The Audio-Technica AT-LP60 Fully Automatic Belt-Drive Stereo Turntable is on
display in the Museum store and on hand to play Mothersbaugh’s new limited-edition
vinyl record Myopia – Akron, Ohio, created especially for the Akron exhibition, and
which will be available for sale at the Museum.
For the May 28 Akron Art Museum opening day ceremonies, Audio-Technica
provided an AT-LP1240-USB Direct-Drive Professional DJ Turntable (USB and
Analog) and ATH-M50x Professional Monitor Headphones for the DJ at the premiere
party. Before the official gallery opening, Mothersbaugh and Adam Lerner, Curator
of Myopia, as well as Director and Chief Animator, Department of Fabrications at
the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, gave a talk at the Akron Public Library.
At the event, Audio-Technica gave away 10 of its top selling ATH-M50x headphones.
Everyone who purchases a shared ticket from Akron Art Museum for admittance to
Myopia at both museums in Akron and Cleveland, will be entered into a
sweepstakes for a chance to win one of two ATH-M50x headphones. (To be eligible
to win, the shared ticket must be purchased from Akron Art Museum.)
Audio-Technica will have three giveaways of the limited-edition vinyl record Myopia
– Akron, Ohio, signed by Mothersbaugh, with an AT-LP60-USB turntable, on their
Facebook page www.facebook.com/AudioTechnicaUSA during the exhibit period.
Myopia – Akron, Ohio includes six songs by Mothersbaugh: “Where ya gonna go?,’
“Babylogna Sandwich,’ “Fologijo,’ “One Bad Ape,’ “Dooperilia’ and “My Home
Town.’ The 12-inch record is pressed into beautiful random colours by Gotta Groove
Records in Cleveland, Ohio.
