EVENT: THEO TRIANTAFYLLIDIS: SISYPHEAN CYCLES (OCTOBER 13 - NOVEMBER 11 2023, VERONA, ITALY)

Theo Triantafyllidis, BugSim (Pheromone Spa), 2022
Live Simulation. Ultra Widescreen Display, Gaming PC. Sound by Holly Waxwing. Image courtesy the artist.

Theo Triantafyllidis: Sisyphean Cycles

Curated by Domenico Quaranta
@ Living Space

Via San Vitale 5, Verona, Italy
From October 13 to November 11 2023
Monday to Friday, 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Opening: October 13, 7 p.m.

As part of Art Verona 2023, the new space Spazio Vitale invites the public to experience Theo Triantafyllidis: Sisyphean Cycles, curated by Domenico Quaranta. This exhibition presents a unique convergence of four simulations created by the Greek artist living in Los Angeles, guiding viewers through a complex and captivating narrative journey within distinct ecosystems – digital worlds meticulously programmed by the artist to autonomously evolve. These live simulations by Theo Triantafyllidis are a testament to world-building, a creative practice that has garnered increasing interest in artistic, philosophical, and literary realms.

Triantafyllidis’s simulations breathe life into immersive digital environments, ranging from automated to interactive, adaptable to various display platforms, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and video installations. These “in vitro simulations” offer viewers the choice to observe them with scientific detachment or actively manipulate them. Triantafyllidis employs this medium to both critically dissect contemporary reality, shedding light on the individual and societal repercussions of communication technologies, and to simulate alternative realities that stem from entirely different premises.

The exhibition spotlights four recent installations, sequenced to follow a narrative progression from critiquing the present to constructing alternative universes: Ork Haus (2022), Radicalization Pipeline (2021), Ritual (2020), and BugSim (Pheromone Spa) (2022).

Theo Triantafyllidis, Ork Haus, 2022
Live Simulation, 4K Display, Gaming PC. Motion Capture Performance by Rachel Ho. Music by Daniel Burley & Gobby. Image courtesy the artist.

Ork Haus immerses viewers in the lives of a family of orcs within their domestic environment, where digital technologies dominate their daily existence. Interpersonal communication, home management, and escapism through simulations such as video games, VR, and streaming videos shape their lives. The artist employs “otor” as his recurring alter ego, reducing characters to fundamental impulses and modes of communication, emphasizing their entrapment within alternative realities as the world around them unravels.

Theo Triantafyllidis, Radicalization Pipeline, 2021
Live Simulation. Sound by Diego Navarro. Image courtesy the artist.

In Radicalization Pipeline, two seemingly endless hordes engage in violent combat wielding colossal melee weapons and distorted voices. A diverse array of characters, from citizen militias to fantastical creatures, enter the fray, perpetually battling and slowly sinking into a muddied landscape. Periodic interludes feature medieval renditions of familiar pop songs, enhancing the soundscape crafted by composer and sound designer Diego Navarro. By exploring phenomena like the rise of QAnon and the assault on the US Capitol, the artist underscores the connections between gamification, fantasy, and political radicalization. Triantafyllidis analyzes the “funnel” structure of social media that creates echo chambers and perpetuates confirmation bias, highlighting its role in cult formation, the spread of misinformation, and political radicalization. Radicalization Pipeline was featured in S03 of VRAL.

Theo Triantafyllidis, Ritual, 2020
Live Simulation. Image courtesy the artist

Ritual transports viewers to a seemingly familiar yet post-apocalyptic space, crafted through a video game’s graphics engine. In this desolate landscape, human civilization appears to have succumbed to cataclysmic forces, leaving only ruins behind. Amidst this devastation, a nascent ecosystem of insects and animals emerges, guided by a repetitive and hypnotic rhythm resembling a peculiar ritual.

Theo Triantafyllidis, BugSim (Pheromone Spa), 2022
Live Simulation. Ultra Widescreen Display, Gaming PC. Sound by Holly Waxwing. Image courtesy the artist.

Finally, BugSim (Pheromone Spa) unveils a microcosm of life within a carefully maintained terrarium. An overcrowded colony of ants toils tirelessly across a damp glass surface amidst lush vegetation. Their labor transforms fragile purple mud into a habitable structure, giving rise to a forest of flowering plants, pollinated by buzzing honey bees and inhabited by a thriving microfauna. This enclosed terrarium system, virtually self-sustaining, serves as an experiment in resilience and entropy, meticulously overseen by a mysterious figure.

Theo Triantafyllidis (b. 1988, Athens, Greece) is an artist who builds virtual spaces and interfaces for the human body to inhabit them. He creates expansive worlds and complex systems where the virtual and the physical merge in uncanny, absurd and poetic ways. These are often manifested as performances, virtual and augmented reality experiences, games and interactive installations. He uses awkward interactions and precarious physics, to invite the audience to embody, engage with and challenge these other realities. Through the lens of monster theory, he investigates themes of isolation, sexuality and violence in their visceral extremities. He offers computational humor and AI improvisation as a response to the tech industry’s agenda. He tries to give back to the online and gaming communities that he considers both the inspiration and context for his work by remaining an active participant and contributor. He holds an MFA from UCLA, Design Media Arts and a Diploma of Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens. He has shown work in museums, including the Hammer Museum in LA and NRW Forum in Dusseldorf, DE and various galleries such as Meredith Rosen Gallery, the Breeder, Eduardo Secci and Transfer. He was part of Sundance New Frontier 2020, Hyper Pavilion in the 2017 Venice Biennale and the 2018 Athens Biennale: ANTI-. Theo Triantafyllidis is based in Los Angeles.

Read more about Theo Triantafyllidis: Sisyphean Cycles

A CLOSER LOOK AT RADICALIZATION PIPELINE

The latest VRAL show features a video documentation of Theo Triantafyllidis’s groundbreaking live simulation Radicalization Pipeline, currently on display at Eduardo Secci Milano (June 3 - September 25 2021). To celebrate this event, Matteo Bittanti wrote a contribution in Italian, which provides contextual information.

Here’s an excerpt:

L'espressione radicalization pipeline – altrimenti nota come radicalizzazione algoritmica – indica il fenomeno per cui gli algoritmi che regolano il funzionamento di piattaforme come Facebook, Twitter, Discord, Gab e YouTube sospingono sistematicamente gli utenti verso contenuti ideologicamente controversi, privilegiando posizioni politiche estremiste e distruttive rispetto a quelle più moderate. Il tema – al centro di un intenso dibattito accademico e culturale – ha acquisito un’inedita visibilità in seguito all’intensificarsi di episodi legati alla crescente polarizzazione sociopolitica negli Stati Uniti, culminati con l’insurrezione armata dei gamer al Campidoglio lo scorso 6 gennaio 2021, senza contare numerosi attentati, omicidi e massacri avvenuti in diverse nazioni del mondo.

Radicalization Pipeline è anche il titolo della mostra personale dell’artista di origini greche Theo Triantafyllidis nel nuovo spazio milanese del project space di Eduardo Secci. L’artista, che risiede a Los Angeles, si è ispirato ai sempre più frequenti conflitti ispirati ai/dai videogiochi – dalla campagna di molestie online #Gamergate ai deliri complottisti dei seguaci di Pizzagate e QAnon, senza dimenticare le sparatorie in livestream motivate dall'odio razziale o dalla misoginia – per creare una serie di opere incentrate sugli effetti nefasti della ludicizzazione (gamification), la crescente popolarità di un genere parafascista come il fantasy e l'estetizzazione della politica in chiave memetica, che ha visto il trionfo politico di veri e propri troll, forse l'ultimo stadio del processo di anti-politica in corso da circa trent'anni. Figure come quella di Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Josh Hawley sono gli esempi più eclatanti del trolling istituzionale. Se è vero che la parola ferisce più della spada, è anche vero che l'immaginario del gamer è contrassegnato da un'ossessione patologica per gli armamenti. Non a caso, nello spazio milanese di Eduardo Secci sono esposte numerose armi in ceramica in grès smaltato di colore scuro ispirate ai più popolari videogiochi: dalle mazze ferrate alle sciabole, dalle lance alle asce. I nomi degli oggetti che compongono l'arsenale - Hippie Breaker, Soyboy Shedder, Chadslayer, Snowflake Skorcher, Normie Slicer, Stormbringer e altri ancora- richiamano tanto la nomenclatura dei personaggi dell'immaginario digitale quanto i termini dispregiativi resi popolari dai social media e da imageboard come 4chan.

Read more

EVENT: VRAL #28_THEO TRIANTAFYLLIDIS (JULY 23 - AUGUST 5 2021)

RADICALIZATION PIPELINE

Digital video (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 15’ 01”, 2021 (Greece)

Created by Theo Triantafyllidis

July 23 - August 5

Introduced by Matteo Bittanti

You may disagree about the root causes, but the diagnosis is crystal clear: reality has imploded. The symptoms are everywhere. Video game fantasies, themes, characters, and narratives – which used to be confined to the imaginary – now shape our everyday life. In a world where meme presidents plan insurrections, global corporations are actively destroying the planet, social media are a toxic cesspool, a new kind of superstition – conspiracy theories, lore, false narratives – has become the dominant epistemological currency. In this uncertain, hyper violent, and chaotic scenario – complicated by metacrises, climate catastrophe, and ongoing pandemics – artists have been among the few to clearly identify the culprits and to imagine possible alternatives. In his latest work, Radicalization Pipeline, Greek artist Theo Triantafyllidis simulates the perpetual clash of two endless hordes fighting to death with large melee weapons. A wide range of characters – from citizen militias to fantastical creatures, from street protesters to hooligans – kill each other tirelessly. There’s no resolution. There’s no closure. Just mutual destruction. This is the Game over age. We now live in the world that video games made.

Theo Triantafyllidis (b. 1988, Athens, Greece) is an artist who builds virtual spaces and interfaces for the human body to inhabit them. He creates expansive worlds and complex systems where the virtual and the physical merge in uncanny, absurd and poetic ways. These are often manifested as performances, virtual and augmented reality experiences, games and interactive installations. He uses awkward interactions and precarious physics, to invite the audience to embody, engage with and challenge these other realities. Through the lens of monster theory, he investigates themes of isolation, sexuality and violence in their visceral extremities. He offers computational humor and AI improvisation as a response to the tech industry’s agenda. He tries to give back to the online and gaming communities that he considers both the inspiration and context for his work by remaining an active participant and contributor. He holds an MFA from UCLA, Design Media Arts and a Diploma of Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens. He has shown work in museums, including the Hammer Museum in LA and NRW Forum in Dusseldorf, DE and various galleries such as Meredith Rosen Gallery, the Breeder, Eduardo Secci and Transfer. He was part of Sundance New Frontier 2020, Hyper Pavilion in the 2017 Venice Biennale and the 2018 Athens Biennale: ANTI-. Theo Triantafyllidis is based in Los Angeles.

WATCH NOW