Theo Triantafyllidis
Pretzel Twist
September 21, 2017–September 21, 2017The Breeder Feeder
The Breeder is pleased to present the first solo presentation of LA-based new media artist Theo Triantafyllidis in Athens. The show includes live simulation screen works, a virtual reality piece and prints.
Triantafyllidis manually creates objects based on the computer’s archiving algorithm and gives a “physical presence to digital information”. His live simulations are endlessly variable through continually changing augmented space. The works are a playful nod to the tradition of still life paintings as self-contained narratives frozen in time, driven by the symbolism imbued to everyday objects. They are governed by the rules of intelligent artificial life and constantly reminded of their imminent destruction –which is particularly characteristic for Still Life with Yumyums, 2016.
In Prometheus (2017) a pigeon and a pretzel engage in a never ending chase, with the pretzel twisting and flipping to avoid being devoured by the greedy bird. The prints “How to Twist a Pretzel” and “How to Sprinkle a Koulouri” are an introduction to computational knot solving in bakery, with koulouri serving as the Greek savoury equivalent to Pretzels.
Triantafyllidis’ iconic live simulation screen work How to Everything (2016), recently presented at Hyper Pavilion at the Venice Biennial, offers a phantasmagoria of images reflecting on the relationship between virtual reality and the physical world it tries to emulate. It can be seen as an artwork from a parallel world, one where humans no longer exist and the computers we have left behind start to piece together their own version of reality.
The virtual reality work Staphyloculus (or the paradox of site specificity of virtual realities), 2017 will also be on view (September 21st -September 29th). Experienced by one visitor at a time, this immersive artwork transports the viewer to the middle of the desert only to be under attack by alien bubblegum pink chromosomes.
Theo Triantafyllidis (b.1988 Athens, Greece) studied on the MFA in Design Media Arts UCLA graduating in 2016, previously receiving a Diploma of Architecture from the Technical University of Athens in 2012. Selected Solo Shows include: Obscene Creatures, Resilient Terrains Assembly Point, London, UK, 2017; a mountain made to look like a person holding a knife, Sargent’s Daughters Gallery, NY, 2016; Le Cabanon, the Cabin LA, CA, 2016; Isla Lacerta, Experimental Digital Arts Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2015; Welcome to LA, Experimental Digital Arts Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2014.
Selected Group shows include: Hyper Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Venice, IT, 2017; Unreal, NRW Forum, Düsseldorf, DE. 2017; International Topsellers – Human Product, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Wien, AT 2017; LA times 10 , Architecture and Design Museum, LA, CA, 2017; After Belonging, Oslo Architecture Triennale, Oslo, NO. 2016; Game Art Festival, Hammer Museum, LA, CA, 2015; Triantafyllidis was also a finalist in the 2016 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, with First Office, New York, 2016. He has received the UCLA Design Media Arts Scholarship, Los Angeles, 2016 and the Scholarship for Hellenes, Onassis Foundation, Athens, 2016.
