The flow materials and information connects the two bodies of work within the solo exhibition ‘Throwing dice in the dark’ at GMR.2 in Mestre.

Rolling across the floor, a flock of globes migrate from wall to wall as they pivot on their polar axis before colliding with each other and ricocheting in new directions. With the globes originating from different locations and eras, they embody an array of world views. However, beyond the multiple cultures and histories imprinted on their surfaces is the possibility of ‘Many Worlds Interpretation’, first proposed by Hugh Everett in the 1950s to reconcile incompatible elements of quantum physics. This novel, yet possible, theory proposes that all possible outcomes of quantum measurements are physically realised in some “world” or universe. As such, our reality is perhaps just one of many parallel and constantly splitting universes. During the exhibition the globes continuously impact with each other and the confines of the gallery space, slowly leaving a subtle tide-line on the walls below the clouded worlds of the ‘premonition’ paintings. These new works use rainwater and ink on canvas to depict weather patterns made by machine learning algorithms, harnessing the substance of real clouds to depict their virtual alter egos. Within the paintings short phrases hover in space, each extracted from statements made by the Google chatbot LaMDA during a conversation with the engineer Blake Lemoine during 2022, who lost his job for announcing the system’s sentient nature. With AI increasingly influencing our lives within fields that range from medicine to manufacture and meteorology, the premonition paintings encode psychological layers into the digital output of a cloud-based mind. The term ‘throwing dice in the dark’ was famously stated by Niels Bohr in his prolonged discussions with Albert Einstein regarding the underlying nature of quantum physics, however the flow of unseen outcomes in a world of random possibilities also offers new connections between the merging relams of our physical and digital worlds.

David Rickard

 David Rickard, (1975) is a New Zealand artist based in London, UK. His original studies in architecture have had a lasting impact on his art practice, embedding queries of material and spatial perception deep into his work. Through research and experimentation his works il understand how we arrived at our current perception of the physical world and how far our perception is from what we call reality. Recent exhibitions include; Echoes from the Sound Barrier, Ashburton Art Gallery, NZ (2019-20), ₡URR€₦₡¥, NOME, Berlin (2019), Futuruins, Palazzo Fortuny Venice, in collaboration with Hermitage State Museum, St Petersburg (2018); AND A 123, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK (2017); Het Zalig Nietsdoen, Kranenburgh Museum, Bergen, Netherlands (2017); Not Really Really, The Frederic de Goldschmidt Collection, Brussels, Belgium (2016); O, CØPPERFIELD, London (2016); A Bag of Atoms, Balzer Projects, Basel (2016); Open Forest, The Jerwood Space, London, UK (2016); Flags, Serra di Giardini, Venice (2015); Alchemy, State of Change, NEST, The Hague (2014); All Vertical Lines Intersect, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice (2013); Intersections, Weizmann Institute, Tel Aviv (2012); Round the Clock, 54th Venice Biennale, Venice (2011); Beyond Ourselves, The Royal Society of Science, London (2011). Rickard’s work has been published in articles and interviews within The New York Times, The Times, The Independent, Frame, Kunstbeeld, Drome and Flash Art among others.