About Wave Farm
Wave Farm Artist-in-Residence: Kathleen McDermott
5662 Route 23 | Acra, NY 12405 | 518-622-2598
http://wavefarm.org/
Kathleen McDermott Portrait Image. Courtesy the artist. (Mar 28, 2019)
Antenna Adjustment, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Connecting Wires, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Forest Floor, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Hallway Performance, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Indoor Adjustment, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Light-up Layer 1, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Light-up Layer 2, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Light-up Layer 3, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Live on WGXC 2, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Live on WGXC, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Outdoor Filming 2, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Nico Reh. (Jun 22, 2019)
Outdoor Filming 3, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 22, 2019)
Dress Interior 1, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Galen Joseph-Hunter. (Jun 21, 2019)
Field 1, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Galen Joseph-Hunter. (Jun 21, 2019)
Field 2, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Galen Joseph-Hunter. (Jun 21, 2019)
Outdoor Filming 1, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Galen Joseph-Hunter. (Jun 21, 2019)
Pond 1, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Galen Joseph-Hunter. (Jun 21, 2019)
Pond 2, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Galen Joseph-Hunter. (Jun 21, 2019)
Storyboard, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Galen Joseph-Hunter. (Jun 21, 2019)
The Public Speaker, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Galen Joseph-Hunter. (Jun 21, 2019)
Demonstration, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Walter Hergt (Jun 17, 2019)
Dress Interior 2, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 15, 2019)
Dress Interior 3, Kathleen McDermott Wave Farm Artist-in-residence. Photographed by Will Hunt. (Jun 15, 2019)
A new project in McDermott’s wearable technology Urban Armor series, The Public Speaker is a skirt covered in 50 small speakers, which have been individually soldered to mini amplifiers. A base skirt layer is covered in strips of LED lights, creating a soft glow behind the speakers, which pulses in time to audio frequencies. At Wave Farm, The Public Speaker will be transformed into an interactive walking radio receiver, tuned to overlooked and underheard frequencies, revealing invisible networks wherever she goes.
Kathleen McDermott combines craft and sculpture techniques with open-source electronic experiments to build video-based narratives of a strange future. She takes a critical perspective on emerging and wearable technologies by creating electronics that are counterproductive, humorous, and uncontrollable. A recurring theme in her work has been the relationship between technology, the body, and personal and public space, grounded in the belief that absurdity can be an appropriate response to technologically-enabled feelings of alienation.