Ritual re-imagines the notion of site-specificity within the mediated landscape. The digital and physical work for this exhibition sit in a forgotten mining town somewhere in the California desert. The viewer is invited to interact with Triantafyllidis’ new live simulation, sculptures and custom electronics blurring the line between the real life and online experience. The exhibition, which exists solely in the virtual sphere, is live 24 hours a day for its duration, and will be inaccessible thereafter.

Our publishing director Atesh M. Gundogdu interviewed Theo about his current online show at the Meredith Rosen Gallery.

Atesh M. Gundogdu: Hello Theo to begin, can you describe your studio space?
Theo Triantafyllidis: My studio is in Los Angeles and it's a hybrid maker space with some sculpting and woodworking tools as well as gaming computers and a Virtual Reality setup. I am thinking of starting to host some exhibition and performance programming to open the space to a wider public.

AMG: What was the impetus for your upcoming show “Ritual”?
TT: In Ritual I am continuing my research into representation of space and site-specificity. The starting point for the project was a tech demo titled “Adam” presented by a game engine that was written and directed by Neil Blomcamp (District 9, Chapie). I was amused that such an elaborate project was realized to demonstrate advances in computer graphics. A key component of the demo was an actual location, which I discovered to be an abandoned mining town in California. That location was 3D scanned and edited to host the narrative of the demo. The 3D assets of the project, including that digitized location and landscape, were later made publicly available. I downloaded it and started thinking of ways I could intervene on it to highlight some of the parts of this whole process that I found interesting.

Theo Triantafylldis, Ritual 2020, Live Simulation, Custom Software, Infinite Duration, Single Channel, 1920x1080 px dimensions variable Courtesy of Meredith Rosen Gallery

AMG: What will the visitors see?
TT: The online show that we are presenting together with Meredith Rosen Gallery, NY, includes multiple components arranged into an open narrative. A Live Simulation piece, which was made in the same game engine and is an elaborate intervention in the aforementioned virtual location, populated by two laughing hyenas pretending to be on a road trip, crows racing on Bird™ scooters and an ant colony performing a strange ritual, among others. Some of that iconography, if the form of tapestries and sculptural works, together with some elements from the original tech demo, like the anthropomorphic sculpture “Effigy” were then made and brought onto the physical location to be documented. The artifacts of this process are finally presented as an online exhibition, thus blurring the line between reality and fiction, exhibition and documentation.

AMG: What is your favorite ritual?
TT: Replying to emails.

AMG: What is the relationship in your work between meaning and aesthetics?
TT: I usually start with an internal narrative and logic that drive the work but try to leave the end result open to interpretation, provoking the audience to ascribe meaning and draw their own connections and conclusions. I try not to think about aesthetics and usually let them emerge from the process but I guess some of the tools I use have an inherent bias towards video game graphics.

AMG: What emotions are you channeling into your art?
TT: In “Ritual” there is humor and despair. Looking at how nature has been represented in art I wanted to show a side that is as sublime as it is sinister and raw.

AMG: Which art exhibition was the most influential in your professional journey?
TT: A recent one I enjoyed was Laure Prouvost’s French Pavilion in Venice. Really stood out as a holistic art experience.

AMG: What songs/albums are on your playlist nowadays?
TT: Ocorara 2010 by Elysia Crampton and Abracadabra by Jerry Paper

AMG: What is so scary about the future?
TT: We are in a major tipping point and I want to believe that as a society we are going to take this chance and make a positive leap forward. What is scary is the possibility of things remaining static.

AMG: Is nature healing itself during The Great Lockdown?
TT: Nature is healing in mysterious ways.

Photo Credit : Jennifer Bobé.