Again and again, Reni Hofmüller, a versatile artist, curator and artistic director of esc medien kunst labor who lives in Graz, captures signals, sounds and noises from seemingly out of nowhere.

To capture these sounds Reni Hofmüller has developed "Resonating Sculptures II" - special antennas. Two pieces exist so far. The antennas are woven from delicate fabric interwoven with copper bands. The pattern of the copper bands is based in each case on the hand lines of one of Reni Hofmüller's hands. The two antenna objects weigh about one kilo each and are therefore relatively easy to transport. No complicated devices or brackets are needed to assemble them.

Two very different sources of inspiration underlie the "Resonating Sculpture II" project. On the one hand, Hofmüller participated in the long-term project "Network" by visual artist and Ortwein professor Irmgard Schaumberger, who saw hand lines as a suggestive expression of human individuality. In early March 2016, Schaumberger showed her work "we, network" at the QL Gallery in Graz for which she had been collecting people's palm lines since 2007. Using a thick marker, Schaumberger traced the hand lines of many people, copied them and framed the drawings, which were exhibited with date and name. When drawing the palm lines, however, transfer errors happened again and again. Whether and which deviations happened when transferring the hand lines of Reni Hofmüller also to her antennas can no longer be traced back exactly.

On the other hand, another source of inspiration for "Resonating Sculpture II" lies in Hofmüller's early fascination with the pirate radio and radio scene. In this scene, it was common to build a mobile transmitting antenna from simple aluminum foil strips glued to tent canvases, which could be easily stretched between trees, among other things.

Hofmüller repeatedly uses the "Resonating Sculpture II" receiving antennas for installations and performances. Originally, the artist developed her first "Resonating Sculpture II" for the fifth edition of the exhibition series "Visions of Media Art" 2016, which was dedicated to the artist and Kunstradio long-time companion Robert Adrian at the Medienwerkstatt Wien. Furthermore, the antenna objects could also be experienced at the exhibition "FACES: GENDER, ART, TECHNOLOGY 2017" or at the four-week festival Radio Revolten 2016 in Halle an der Saale in Germany as well as in the context of the project "Haus" by the US-American radio producer and sociologist Karen Werner.

Again and again, media artist, curator and activist Reni Hofmüller draws on a quote by inventor, physicist and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla, who is considered one of the fathers of radio and wireless communication:

Hofmüller follows this thought and makes connections into the frequencies that surround us and she takes us into these (for us) invisible infinite wave worlds. Which frequency bands Reni Hofmüller will browse and explore for the listeners with the help of her receiver antennas on May 22 in her live Kunstradio "Resonating Sculpture II" also depends on the reception possibilities in the radio play studio RP4 of the Vienna Funkhaus. Let us surprise you!

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