Rachele Riley – process and research

My proposal—The Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial

Here is my concept proposal (The Evolution of Silence) for The Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial in the decommissioned nuclear testing site, Yucca Flat (Nevada Test Site).

Drawing, digital collage, archival ink jet print, 16.54 x 23.39 inches (A2), 2021

From the competition brief:

“We support the call for a ban on nuclear weapons.

“In response to the global silence surrounding the issue of nuclear weapons, designs must be submitted with no description text. Ideas must be communicated strictly with visuals. Propose any building functionality and scale.”

My proposal—is not a careful site, not singular, not clean—it is emotional, entangled, absurd, unfathomable, a path of perspective.

I combined several drawings to render a complicated expressive path—one that could provide access around the Yucca Flat terrain, not only to visit detonation sites but also to give presence to the in-between spaces around them—so to acknowledge the damage that is visible and invisible.

www.evolution-of-silence.net

Included in Journal, Studies in Material Thinking Special Issue: Visual/Textual.

I am pleased to announce that my essay, ‘Reflections on Research through Design: The Evolution of Silence,’ for the journal, Studies in Material Thinking, Special Issue: Visual/Textual, Vol.13, 2015, is now published and viewable online. The issue is edited by Jayne Wallace, Joyce Yee & Abigail Durrant, with help from copy editor, Sheila Christofides.

The essay expands upon a presentation I made in September 2013 at ‘Praxis and Poetics: Research Through Design‘ in Newcastle-upon-Tyne/Gateshead, UK. For my contribution to this Special Issue, I further explore a process for destabilizing the visual/textual experience, in this case, by directly embedding the text of my essay into ‘The Evolution of Silence.’ I worked with screen shots of my essay (see below) to design the final layout of my contribution for the journal.

These are the detonations where the essay lives:
Galileo
Apple-2
Coulomb-A
Morgan
Wilson
Texarkana
Satz
Farallones
Baker
Dog
Titania
Caprock
Tulia
Manteca
Ceres
Lubbock
Nightingale
Nama-Amarylis
Wexford
Shallows
Ray
Apodaca
Jib
Humboldt

Acting in Translation, SIGGRAPH 2014.

SIGGRAPH 2014 took place in Vancouver, Canada from August 10–14. I am so glad I was able to participate in the Art Gallery this year. The theme ‘Acting in Translation’ explored alternate meaning, approaches to knowledge, and critical technological experience. I met amazing people: this year’s Art Gallery curator, Basak Senova, an amazing woman and designer; the Art Gallery committee: Mushon Zer-Aviv, Sue Gollifer, Kate Armstrong, and Amit Zoran; and, of course, the other artists exhibiting: especially Emilio Vavarella, Zohar Kfir, Jeff Ong, and Alon Chitayat. They are all a truly inspiring and intelligent group. Meeting and sharing thoughts with them was such a positive and enriching experience. I know it will have a lasting effect on me and on my work. Another amazing PLUS was the fact that Nonie Kimpitak attended SIGGRAPH this year. Nonie was an early contributor to my fundraiser last year for ‘The Evolution of Silence.’ It was great to be able to share the experience with her. This is my first realization of the map and archive as an installation. Emily Luce from DesignInquiry also came down to Vancouver to show her support. Cheers to you all!

Here is the installation before the show opened, before the lighting was arranged:

The exhibition was open every day to SIGGRAPH attendees:

The exhibition was held in a massive convention hall. A metal armature was constructed and a projection screen was mounted at a roughly 25 degree angle. The projector was mounted from high above on the opposite side and in the center stood a kiosk stand with a mouse. A MacMini and sound mixer were inside the stand. Speakers were positioned at the base of the screen. The site was presented live from the web. Anyone attending the conference had access to the work in the Art Gallery. Volunteers were stationed near works to introduce or clarify. I worked with some amazing young people who presented the work well. A great experience all around.

Selected for 2014 SIGGRAPH Art Gallery.

I am so pleased to announce that The Evolution of Silence will be included in the 2014 SIGGRAPH Art Gallery this August! The exhibition will take place from August 11–14, 2014 in Vancouver, BC, and is held in conjunction with 2014 SIGGRAPH: an International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques.

The theme of the SIGGRAPH 2014 Art Gallery is “Acting in Translation.” (from their open call) ‘Translation indicates a detached and forward movement from the source. It is also a freeing act, which paradoxically contains a burden of responsibility for the source. Therefore, this movement has limits and fine borderlines, yet it could designate “more” than the source. Translation is a call for other realities and also another way to see other realities. Translation can also blend “fact” with fiction by blurring the difference between them. In this vein, “translation” as a term could be interpreted in multiple ways on different layers of perception. While this term indicates a mechanical act, it may also refer to global and local societal developments such as resistance movements, alternative economies, information leaks, migration flows, mobility, etc.’

All types of work are submitted to SIGGRAPH: 2D and 3D artworks, interactive, electronically mediated Augmented Reality (AR), mixed-media installations and performances, web-based art, responsive media, time-based works, works leveraging mobile technologies, works using digital communities and social media, robotics, touch-screens, wearable art, mediated music, sound and audio.

I am very excited to be showing in this context. Instead of showing it from a monitor screen, this time I will be projecting onto a floating screen constructed at an angle. The goal is that the landscape and map will appear as an extension of the space and the user.

This year’s jury includes:
Basak Senova (curator and designer; the Art Gallery Chair 2014; lecturer at Department of Media and Visual Arts at Koç University),
Mona Kasra (artist and educator; the Conference Chair 2016; digital media scholar at University of Texas),
Amit Zoran (HCI and craft researcher; the Art Gallery Chair 2015; Post-Doc at the Fluid Interfaces Group, MIT Media Lab),
Kate Armstrong (curator, artist and writer; Director of the Social + Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University of Art + Design),
Cezanne Charles (artist, designer and policywonk; Co-Director of rootoftwo – hybrid design studio, Director of Creative Industries at ArtServe Michigan), and
Mushon Zer-Aviv (designer, educator and media activist, faculty member at Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art).

There will be an opening reception on Tuesday, August 12 from 2–3:30 pm. In addition I will be giving an Artist Talk on Wednesday, August 13. Here is the full schedule of talks and projects:

Tuesday, 12 August
Art Gallery Talk SESSION 1
Moderator: Basak Senova, Koc University and SIGGRAPH 2014 Art Gallery Chair
Tuesday, 12 August, 2.00pm -3:30 pm

Art Gallery Panel: On SIGGRAPH Art Gallery: Basak Senova in Conversation Sue Gollifer, Mona Kasra, and Burak Arikan.

Wednesday, 13 August
Art Gallery Talk SESSION 2
Moderator: Basak Senova, Koc University and SIGGRAPH 2014 Art Gallery Chair
Wednesday, 13 August, 10.45-12.15 pm

Points of View
Zohar Kfir

Subway Stories
Alon Chitayat Animishmish Studio/ITP and Jeff Ong ITP, New York University

The Evolution of Silence
Rachele Riley

Art Gallery Talk SESSION 3
Moderator: Basak Senova, Koc University and SIGGRAPH 2014 Art Gallery Chair
Wednesday. 13 August, 2:00pm -3:30pm

Can digital art have the same emotional impact and historical significance as masterworks in painting, drawing, and sculpture?
Joseph Farbrook, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Mother
Inmi Lee, Kutztown University

Thursday, 14 August
Art Gallery Talk SESSION 4
Moderator: Basak Senova, Koc University and SIGGRAPH 2014 Art Gallery Chair
Thursday, 14 August, 10.45-12.15

On Everyware
Hyunwoo Bang
Yunsil Heo
Everyware

Technological Error, Power and Metamorphosis
Emilio Vavarella

From Virtual to Reality
Ed Konowal/GraphicsNet

/////

Thanks again, everyone, for helping me fund my project and enabling me to take it to this level. I am very grateful!

Official Honoree in NetArt in The 18th Annual Webby Awards.

Amazing news! ‘The Evolution of Silence’ has been selected as an Official Honoree in The 18th Annual Webby Awards in the NetArt category!

Link to Official Honorees in NetArt:
http://pv.webbyawards.com/2014/web/general-website/netart/honorees

The Webby Awards is hailed as the ‘Internet’s highest honor’ by The New York Times. Presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), it is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. With 12,000 entries received from all 50 US states and over 60 countries, the Official Honoree distinction is awarded to the top 15 percent of all work entered that exhibits remarkable achievement.

Thank you Danniel Gaidula, my incredible Technical Consultant and Developer. Thank you to everyone who has supported my project—especially in my recent fundraising campaign. I am so grateful!

Version 1. Launched.

The Evolution of Silence version 1—www.evolution-of-silence.net

The Hatchfund fundraiser ended in October, and thanks to all my wonderful supporters, I raised $3,827 towards my project!

Part of the funding has already covered the costs of working with web developer, Danniel Gaidula. We have completely revamped and refined the web-based archive. This is a significant programming achievement! ‘The Evolution of Silence’ requires that over 900 individual images be processed at once (to form the aerial tiling of the landscape), and as other image, video, and audio layers are revealed it can become very intense for any system. We developed a unique approach to the design and coding, and I am happy to say that is now live and working!

I invite you to explore:

www.evolution-of-silence.net

*Refresh your browser cache if you have visited before.
*Works in Chrome (fastest), Safari, Firefox and IE 10. Requires a modern browser.

Presenting at ‘Praxis and Poetics’ at the BALTIC in Gateshead, UK.

Presentation at 'Praxis and Poetics: Research Through Design,' September 4, 2013 — Rachele Riley presenting ‘The Evolution of Silence’ at ‘Praxis and Poetics’ at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, UK on September 4, 2013. Photo by Dr Joyce Yee.

I traveled to England on September 2 to participate in the conference ‘Praxis and Poetics: Research Through Design.’ The conference was held at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, UK, just over the Millennium Bridge and across the river from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a beautiful university city with a mix of old and new architecture, which I was able to explore one afternoon on foot. I am so happy that I was able to attend this event and thrilled to present and exhibit ‘The Evolution of Silence’ in its newly re-coded format. It was a celebratory week for me and wonderful to share the archive beyond the U.S.

Here is a post from Vicky Teinaki who blogged about the conference:

“Rachele Riley went beyond whether the truth is out there to the history we forget in ‘The Evolution of Silence.’ Her work is investigating the decades of nuclear testing that went on in the Nevada desert, and through it the changing opinions of nuclear testing…”

Read the full post here.

Link to ‘The Evolution of Silence.’

Installation detail of 'The Evolution of Silence' at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. ©Rachele Riley, 2013 — Detail of ‘The Evolution of Silence’ at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. ©Rachele Riley, 2013

Thank you to The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and to my family for travel support, to Danniel Gaidula for revamping the site, and to everyone who generously contributed to my project via USA Projects. The archive looked amazing on the high resolution monitor and received incredible response. There are several conversation threads that linger in my mind; I am now finding time to probe them. Several people expressed an interest in contributing to the archive through its (soon-to-be-developed) participatory layer. It was inspiring to meet designers (mainly from Asia, Europe, and Australia) who are engaged in diverse research and are investigating new modes of delivery. It was an awe-tastic week.

Update on Fundraiser at USA Projects.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my USA Projects fundraiser over the last two days! The USA Projects Open Match Fund matched $250 of your contributions. Please continue to share the link. Thank you!

http://www.usaprojects.org/project/the_evolution_of_silence

All donations are tax-deductible and the fundraising model is ‘all or nothing.’ If you have not yet made a donation, please know that your contributions will make a difference and will mean a lot to me. I have a few art perks to offer for donations at $50 or $100 (at the Haymaker or Noggin levels—named after denotations, of course!).

Please consider making a contribution today and share the link with others!

Pahranagat Valley, NV, first research trip in 2008.

In related news: the Web-based archive will launch in 10 days! I will be presenting it in conjunction with ‘Praxis and Poetics’ at the Baltic Center for Contemporary Art in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, September 3–5. This week my focus is to develop the section of the website that presents and interprets the LA Darling Co Mannequins. As you saw in my USA Projects video, I have a lot of research material to incorporate!

Scans of mannequins and tests. Images courtesy of the National Archives.

Fundraising at USA Projects.

I just posted ‘The Evolution of Silence’ to USA Projects!

I have been working on the writing for about two weeks, and just finished the video yesterday. I have one month to fund the project and I need your help. Please consider contributing, and do share the link with others! Thank you!

http://www.usaprojects.org/project/the_evolution_of_silence

About USA Projects: a nonprofit organization that provides a platform for artists and designers to raise money for their independent work. Supported by separate donations, they charge no fee to artists to use their website tool.

Adding USGS ‘Before’ and ‘After’ Shots.

I added 296 images to my Web-based archive last week. The ‘before’ and ‘after’ test shots (or ‘pre’ and ‘post’ shots) that I acquired via Freedom of Information Act Request from the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Site Office are now included in the project.

If you are visiting the project site, be sure to ’empty your cache’ and ‘refresh.’
Instructions again:
Safari
File > Develop > Empty Caches

Firefox
Tools > Clear Recent History > Cache