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Mollye Bendell Wave Farm Artist-in-Residence (Video)

Jun 24, 2018

In "Whethervanes" Bendell continues a practice in antenna design, delving farther into the physical side of electronic media, building her own circuits in a playful meditation on the physics of the signal. "Whethervanes" consists of a series of experimental radios in which components such as the tuner and antennae are subject to the wind. Found and constructed objects including weathervanes, flags, sails, and windmills are used to manipulate different kinds of potentiometers and different antenna configurations. Bendell's specialized and sculpted radio devices mount to roofs, stake into gardens, and observe the tides from piers. "Whethervanes" illustrate the physical nature of electronic media in conversation with a force of nature. Mollye Bendell makes digital and analog sculptures to connect with digital and analog worlds. She seeks to create the space between physical beings, to build a practice around intangibility and to meditate on the contradiction of the act of making in the absence of the object. Her work uses the ephemeral nature of electronic media as a metaphor for exploring vulnerability, visibility, and longing in a world that can feel isolating.