Revision of Mollye Bendell from Fri, 01/13/2017 - 23:20

About Mollye

Baltimore City

Mollye Bendell is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus in electronic and digital media. She has created radio sculptures as a resident of Wave Farm, and developed augmented and virtual reality projects as a resident of Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center and the Tides Institute and Museum of Art. She is also a founding member of media arts collective strikeWare, which creates experiences grounded in our collective history, often using new technologies to emphasize the nowness of that… more

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MollyeNet

MollyeNet uses specialized hardware to implement a public access WiFi network onto art museum property. MollyeNet has exhibited successfully at MoMA NYC and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

MollyeNet

MollyeNet is a WiFi network that occupies space as an artwork in an art museum. At core, MollyeNet is about longing and visibility, not subverting cultural gatekeepers. But both are acceptable. MollyeNet has successfully exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the New York City Museum of Modern Art. Visitors attempting to access WiFi on their phones see this network alongside other WiFi networks in the museum.
MollyeNet Captive Portal

A captive portal is the page you often see prompting you to agree to Terms and Conditions before using a guest WiFi network. The text and the WiFI network itself are the only visual evidence of the piece. The text reads: I brought my sculpture To the Museum of Modern Art I leaned it against the wall To see how it would feel To be “in” MoMA I promise to take it with me when I leave Welcome to MollyeNet! MollyeNet is a WiFi network occupying space as an artwork in the Museum of Modern Art. At heart, MollyeNet is about longing and visibility, not subverting cultural gatekeepers. But it feels good to do both. MollyeNet operates by imitating MoMA WiFi and thus cannot exist outside of MoMA. MollyeNet does not interfere with the operation of MoMA in any way, except to live in the designated space of approved art without approval. Read the following terms and conditions, then click I Agree to proceed. Enjoy MollyeNet.

Recorder

Recorder gestures toward the ephemerality of information by recording sound into sand. Similar to a record player, the machine has a turntable and a needle. However, record players work by interpreting sound waves - users hear audio based on the vibration of the needle in the grooves of a record. Recorder inverts this functionality by linking the needle to a speaker resonator. A very shallow sandbox acts as a turntable as the resonator wobbles the needle, recording sound waves into the sand.

Recorder

Talking into the mic vibrates the needle of this homemade record player, drawing sound waves into the sand.
Recorder

Recorder gestures toward the ephemerality of information by recording audio into sand.
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Recorder - 4
Recorder - 3

Recorder - speaker assembly

Maps

Maps layers sheets of clear acrylic into one column, each engraved with a different location-based data set from Baltimore City. Location sets such as Vacant Buildings, Mural Locations, and Public Pools individually form an incomplete map of Baltimore. However, stacked on top of each other the transparent pieces “fill in the blanks” to create a complete map. Maps responds to absorbing and resisting supposedly holistic media portrayals of Baltimore through generic data sets.

Maps 1.JPG

Maps layers sheets of clear acrylic into one column, each engraved with a different location-based data set from Baltimore City. Location sets such as Vacant Buildings and Public Pools individually form an incomplete map of Baltimore. However, stacked on top of each other the transparent pieces “fill in the blanks” to create a complete map.
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Maps 3.JPG

Detail of the engraving.
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A single dataset from the piece, in this case locations of religious institutions.
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A different dataset, in this case gun offenses in 2015.

Tabs

A hanging mylar cloud of browser tab windows, Tabs attempts to physically realize the mundane interfaces that dominate daily lives while still alluding to these structures as immaterial. A repetitive cloud formation gives visual weight to almost invisible mylar silhouettes, attempting to imply a large amount of information that exists in lieu of meaning.

Tabs.jpg

A hanging mylar cloud of browser tab windows, Tabs attempts to physically realize the mundane interfaces that dominate daily lives while still alluding to these structures as immaterial.
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Tabs - Installation view
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Tabs - Detail
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Tabs - Side

Animal Shelter

2016. Coroplast prototype.

Animal Shelter mimics nomadic structures such as forts, yurts and treehouses, but includes a smaller version of the structure to accommodate an animal companion. Designed using generative algorithms, as opposed to traditional drafting techniques, changing the shape, size and complexity of the model will automatically update the smaller shelter attached to it. Algorithmic facades have begun to dominate the aesthetic trends of contemporary architecture - massive facades with organic, iterative features impossible to produce via traditional fabrication methods. Animal Shelter toys with these ambitious aesthetics to address my intense longing for a pet. This lightweight, mobile shelter automatically creates a space for an animal no matter where I end up sleeping.

Animal Shelter

Animal Shelter, is a lightweight, mobile shelter similar to a tent, generated from a program I wrote to address my longing for a pet. The design can be manipulated to suit the needs of the user, but no matter how it changes, the program automatically creates an additional space for an animal companion.
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Almost Heaven/Repetition Compulsion

Single wedding dress, threads removed. Pattern pieces organized from smallest to largest. Fabric suspended by the original threads. Dress purchased used for $32.