TIVON RICE (US/NL): Environment Built for Absence

Modern Body Festival is proud to present a newly commissioned work by Tivon Rice, exploring Artificial Intelligence, 3D drone photography, and algorithmic storytelling

Environment Built for Absence – Tivon Rice (US/NL)
Environment Built for Absence – Tivon Rice (US/NL)
Environment Built for Absence – Tivon Rice (US/NL)
Environment Built for Absence – Tivon Rice (US/NL)
NOV 2&3 | EXHIBITION | DE NIEUWE REGENTES

 Commissioned for Modern Body Festival 2018, Environment Built for Absence (an unofficial/artificial sequel to JG Ballard’s “High Rise”) proposes a haunting, super-real landscape through Tivon Rice’s ongoing collaboration with emerging technologies. As an extension of his work with digital storytelling and machine learning / AI systems, Rice has trained a recursive neural network to generate stories based on the complete writings of science fiction author, J.G. Ballard.  Navigating an architectural landscape reminiscent of Ballard’s 1975 High Rise, the artificial agent describes the textures, invisible bodies, and possible narratives residing within the broken concrete grounds. The resulting site-specific installation in DNR’s Het Diepe (the deep end of a 1920s swimming pool) merges the uncanny environments, both on and off the screen, with sculptural lighting elements and the voice of the machine learning system.

Voiced by: Kevin Walton

BIO

Tivon Rice (US/NL) an artist and educator working at the intersections of visual studies and technology. Based in Seattle and Den Haag, his work critically explores representation and communication in the context of digital culture. These themes are explored through a variety of materials (both real and virtual) and examine the ways physical environments and mass media create images, and in turn build histories around sites and communities. While Rice’s projects focus on new/emerging technologies, they also reevaluate relationships with sculpture, photography, and cinema. Using these spatial, visual, and temporal frameworks as a starting point, his work then incorporates new media to explore how we see and understand a future thoroughly enmeshed in new data/visual/production systems.

LINKS