Banner and photo from featured project Paintings for Satellites (2009-present) seen at the U.S. Pavilion of the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. Photos: Nuno Cera (left), Steve Amiaga (aerial right)
Molly Dilworth was featured as part of the U.S. Pavilion at the 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale. On view from August 29 – November 25, 2012, the theme of the U.S. Pavilion is Spontaneous Interventions: design actions for the common good. Molly’s featured project, Paintings for Satellites, exemplifies the theme of this exhibition, as her large-scale rooftop paintings at once play with concepts of painting, fine art, and viewership and visibility, while simultaneously reducing energy costs for the building and greenhouse emissions over time.
Cool Water, Hot Island: This five block, 50,000 square foot painting covers the surface of Broadway from 47th to 42nd Streets in Times Square. The concept of Cool Water, Hot Island, references the urban heat-island effect, where cities tend to experience warmer temperatures than rural settings. Cool Water, Hot Island’s striking blues reflect more sunlight and absorbs less heat, thereby making them more calm and comfortable for pedestrians and contrast with the reds and yellows of the neon billboards. The color patterns evoke water and suggest a river flowing through the center of Times Square, an allusion to the original topography of the area, through which a stream known as the Great Kill ran. The project was installed in June 2010 and will remain for 18 months.
Field Test Project Description via Molly Dilworth:
“I view creative practice as a form of research. Using data from a specific site as a structure, I build a painting that gives form to the invisible things that motivate our actions. I’m interested in looking at how we connect emotionally to the places we inhabit.
Contemporary Golden is built on top of incredible geological wealth, a pocket of resources and power existing just below the surface. Over the last two centuries, this geology generated a demand for engineers that facilitated a culture of research, technology and innovation. The Golden of today is a combines this physical history with geopolitics; it is a global innovator in high tech materials and applications and a center for mining operations around the world. These invisible motivators arrive in unexpected moments but resist quantification; we can measure the volume of a lake but can’t explain how the memory of a fishing trip there brings tears to our eyes.
Field Test was installed during the first five days of the exhibition HABITAT at the Foothills Art Center. (January 21-25, 2011).
The ceiling was chosen as the site of the painting to simulate a subterranean space, calling attention to the geology of Golden. Elements in the construction of the painting include Jefferson County maps, Voronoi diagrams of silicon solar cells, photographs of amazonite, images of magnetic thin films and conversations with visitors to the gallery.”
Courtesy Foothills Art Center and Gregory Euclide
Take it with you Project Description via Gregory Euclide:
“An installation consisting of all the packing materials used to ship work to HABITAT, a group exhibit at the Foothills Art Center in Golden, Colorado. Dioramas were created inside some of the boxes. Gallery viewers could take photos of the scenes through pin holes with their cell phones.”
Molly Dilworth’s most recent project is Cool Water, Hot Island. This five block, 50,000 square foot painting covers the surface of Broadway from 47th to 42nd Streets in Times Square. The concept of Cool Water, Hot Island, references the urban heat-island effect, where cities tend to experience warmer temperatures than rural settings. Cool Water, Hot Island’s striking blues reflect more sunlight and absorbs less heat, thereby making them more calm and comfortable for pedestrians and contrast with the reds and yellows of the neon billboards. The color patterns evoke water and suggest a river flowing through the center of Times Square, an allusion to the original topography of the area, through which a stream known as the Great Kill ran. The project was installed in June 2010 and will remain for 18 months.
