Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing

Floor 6

Born 1990 in Seattle, WA
Lives in Brooklyn, NY

K.R.M. Mooney’s Gain c. (ampere) comes from a series of sculptures that he cast from objects that produce sound—in this case, a sectoral horn, part of an amplifier. Sound interests the artist because it extends beyond the physical bounds of its source and is shaped in part by the architecture, people, and other objects in the space. The work thus implies the involvement of the viewer and the site where it is installed, lending this dense bronze cast a sense of responsiveness.

The Housing relief series also turns on a sense of reactivity. Drawing on his training in jewelry making, Mooney electroplated steel surfaces with silver; because steel is ferrous (or iron-containing) and silver is not, the materials essentially contaminate each other, yielding changes in color and texture over time. These and other “material disputes” in the sculpture result in an almost alchemical form of site-specificity.