Armando Guadalupe Cortés presents Dead parrot radio, a large-scale installation of sound and sculptures that reference various communication technologies, investigating what it means to express and be understood—by one another and between species. Throughout his practice, Cortés draws on anecdotes from familial narratives, local folklore, or direct experience to form each exhibition. Dead Parrot Radio is the first instance where each work carries its own story, brought together through ideas around the desire for communication, distinctions between native and invasive fauna, and the threshold of migration that presents an inability to go back. These mediations are further explored through a relationship between humans and parrots, chatty birds that can mimic the cadence and patterns of human speech.

Throughout the gallery, a series of large sculptures mimic communication infrastructures: cellular, wifi, and radio towers, and a satellite dish, primarily constructed from steel frames, the artist’s first significant project working in this medium. The installation centers on a stage that offers itself as a site for potential performance, holding a mic and a record player that the artist inherited from his father. In addition to the stage, many of the objects on display will be activated by the artist during two weekends of performances during the exhibition’s run.

The exhibition’s sound component emanates from bullhorn speakers, in an indirect call-and-response between recordings of the artist’s family and their own pet parrots. This disparate display of miscommunication is felt as yearning rather than as clear articulation. It is a call across the border, longing for home and family, using technology as a proxy for closeness. Parrot and macaw feathers appear through- out the gallery—as nests within the bullhorn speakers, and sewn together to create a nautical flag. In equal blocks of yellow and blue, the flag translates to the letter “K,” which, when flown alone, signifies the message: “I wish to communicate with you.”

The layers of potential communication are further complicated when considering parrots’ own visual spectrum, which is wider than that of humans. Due to the feathers’ natural striations, the parrots may not even recognize the blocks as solid colors, nullifying the potential signal. Throughout the exhibition Cortés harnesses the gesture of the call, at times lonely and misunderstood, but carried forth by the strength of longing.