PhD (2010 - 2014)

Ernesto Ríos

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia.

Thesis: Reconfiguring the labyrinth: an exploration of traditional forms of the labyrinth and the maze through contemporary art practices

Through visual metaphors and structural innovations, I investigate the ancient and contemporary significance of the cultural configurations of the labyrinth and the maze in relation to personal notions and understandings of labyrinthine structures.

I link my personal interpretations of the labyrinth with elements of the architectural city, the modern networked society, and contemporary theories to enrich and expand the creative possibilities of this research.

This project reconsiders the complexity of the canonical images of the maze and the labyrinth by incorporating new media, in parallel with conventional media such as drawing, painting and photography, with the intention of generating new labyrinthine forms. With reference to the metaphor of the labyrinth found in contemporary architectural and virtual forms, video games and electronic circuits, this research seeks to create multimedia artworks, 3D experiments, photographs, drawings, and paintings utilizing a non-conventional fusion of techniques.

This research incorporates new technologies with traditional media in order to create new affective forms of interaction between the spectator and the artwork and investigates how the fusion and combination of different technologies with the incorporation of geometry, patterns and complex structures can generate new labyrinthine metaphors and readings.