TONI DOVE EMBODIED

Machines

TONI DOVE: EMBODIED MACHINES

FEB 25, 2017 – MAY 20, 2018

SPECTROPIA

MAR 9

LUCID POSSESSION

APR 13 & 14

This February, The Ringling presents Toni Dove: Embodied Machines, the first survey exhibition of this pioneering artist. Her work is both interdisciplinary and cutting edge, combining live performance, interactive narratives, and virtual reality. Based in New York, Dove is credited as one of the innovators of “interactive cinema,” which creates immersive experiences that blur the boundary between viewer and performer. At the heart of her work is an examination of the history of consumer culture and capitalism.

The exhibition spans over two decades of Dove’s projects, from early installations to interactive cinema and stage performances and concluding with her most recent experiments at the forefront of digital technology and robotics.

In March, Dove’s live cinema piece, Spectropia, will be performed. During the presentation a seated audience faces a large central screen, flanked by two smaller screens. To the side of the stage two performers manipulate a device that uses video motion sensing and a light-and-laser harp to interact with the media of the piece. Utilizing movement and speech they navigate through the movie almost as if it were a three-dimensional architectural space. The narrative blends sci-fi and film noir, following a young woman in the future and her search through time for her father.

The following month brings two performances of Lucid Possession. The work is mixed and animated in real-time, using revolutionary motion-sensing technologies to create a musical thriller that tells the story of Bean, a designer of virtual avatars.

Throughout the work, musicians and a video DJ control robotic screens, lights, sound, and video. Lucid Possession meditates on the nature of life lived within the rapidly changing networks of social media and online communities.

Embodied Machines will mark the debut of Dove’s interactive installation, The Dress That Eats Souls This massive sculptural dress combines robotics and projection scrims that respond to visitors. Each person has a unique encounter with the piece, as his or her movements trigger a new story. Visitors are introduced to the Dress, which begins telling the story of those who have worn it over the course of ten decades. Throughout the narratives it becomes evident that the Dress consumes those who wear it, eventually consuming the visitor and incorporating a new story. Says Dove, “It’s a cautionary tale: a compressed view of technological change, a speculative view of the almost supernatural implications of emerging technologies that will ultimately modify and amplify the human body.”

Embodied Machines is a celebration of all the Art of Our Time program at The Ringling is committed to. “Dove blends genres, producing art and performance in incredibly innovative ways, pushing into uncharted territories of technology, theater and installation art,” said Steven High, Executive Director at The Ringling.

Matthew McLendon, Director of the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, curated the exhibition. He began working with Dove over three years ago, while Curator of Contemporary Art at The Ringling. McLendon was intrigued and inspired by the artist's ability to push technology forward in order to create her work.

Technologies Around Us Affect Us

IN WAYS WE DON’T YET UNDERSTAND.

WHAT IS THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE COMPUTER AND HUMAN TOUCH, WHERE

DOES THE BODY END? OUR EDGES ARE BLURRY. – TONI DOVE