EVENT: THEO TRIANTAFYLLIDIS, RADICALIZATION PIPELINE (JUNE 3 - SEPTEMBER 25 2021, MILAN)
Theo Triantafyllidis
June 3–September 25, 2021
Via Bernardino Zenale, 3,
Milano, 20123 Italy
Press release:
For this new body of works, Theo Triantafyllidis draws inspiration from video games and recent events of civil disorder in America. Looking at phenomena such as the rise of QAnon, the artist suggests connections between gamification, fantasy, and political radicalization. The gallery space brings together a series of ceramic weapons. These dark glazed stoneware works are adorned with decorative details like tennis over grip tapes, hair extensions and laser-cut acrylics. With titles such as Chadslayer, SnowflakeSkorcherand, Stormbringer, they are reminiscent of the exaggerated forms often seen in video games and extremist ideologies which the internet culture has accelerated.
The ceramic surfaces reflect the light from a large display playing Radicalization Pipeline, a Live Simulation piece that runs on a gaming PC. Two seemingly endless hordes clash into a violent free-for-all, swinging large melee weapons and shouting with distorted voices. A wide range of characters -from citizen militias to fantastical creatures -enter the screen only to kill each other, wave after wave, sinking their virtual bodies slowly into a muddy landscape. The mood occasionally lightens up by the medieval covers of familiar pop songs that complete the soundscape conceived by the composer and sound designer Diego Navarro."
Theo Triantafyllidis, born in Athens in 1988, lives and works in Los Angeles. The artist builds virtual spaces and interfaces for the human body to inhabit them. He creates complex worlds and systems where the virtual and the physical merge in uncanny, absurd, and poetic ways. They are performances, mixed reality experiences, games and interactive installations. He received a Master of Fine Arts at UCLA Department of Design Media Arts in 2016. Selected solo shows include ‘Pastoral’ at Eduardo Secci, Florence (2019); ‘Role Play’ at Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York (2018); and ‘Pretzel Twist’ at The Breeder, Athens (2017). Among the group exhibitions, ‘World on a Wire’, Hyundai Motor Studio & Rhizome of New Museum, Seoul (2021); Sundance New Frontier Exhibition, Park City, Utah (2020); Athens Biennale: ANTI-, Athens (2018); and Hyper Pavilion, 57thVenice Biennale (2017). Theo Triantafyllidis’s work is currently on display at MEDITERRANEA 19 Young Artists Biennale: School of Waters, San Marino (2021). Among his upcoming exhibitions in 2021, ‘Radical Gaming: Immersion Simulation Subversion’ at House of Electronic Arts Basel and the Augmented Reality Biennale at NRW-Forum Düsseldorf.
: Theo Triantafyllidis, Radicalization Pipeline at Eduardo Pecci Milano