output – interview
From the online publication "Fellows Published 2021-2022"
Octave Rimbert Riviere was one of the nine fellows in the academic year 2021-2022. The interview below is published in the online publication “Fellows Published” that was launched in November 2023.
fellowspublished.rietveldacademie.nl
fellowspublished.rietveldacademie.nl
Octave Rimbert-Rivière is a sculptor who looks for tension between craft and learning new technologies resulting in unknown outputs. Within the fellowship, he has been exploring the perversion of design and craft; The primary and necessary things in life are designed and built with little attention to imagination and non-normative taste. While asking what an experimental attitude of 'directed malfunction' could look like, Rimbert-Rivière's way to reckon with the 'sameness problem' problem in design is to use the same technologies used for streamlined production and 'glitch' them to arrive at the unexpected and the unique.
What was the starting point of your research project?
My research aimed to combine two technical approaches to create sculptures. On the one hand, I’ve been working on improving my computer-aided design skills. On the other hand, I’ve been working with ceramic experts to better understand this craft. I am fascinated by the concept of distortion and how it can be employed in the creative process, whether in digital or physical work.
What approach did you take for the fellowship research project, and how does it relate to the role of research in your practice?
Distortion might be unwanted, but it is extremely stimulating when it becomes the center of production. Part of my research involved considering the glitch as a means of discovering unexpected outcomes. This concept inspired me to create excessive objects, first altering them digitally and then applying these distortions to their materiality.
You have a very hands-on research method when working with ceramics. Besides, you engage in various other artistic activities, such as making music, and recently you have worked on animation and film. Could you briefly describe how all activities and rese
I've always been drawn to various crafts related to sculpture. In the meantime, I've been playing music and discovering all kinds of things thanks to 3D animation and gaming software. Understanding how to integrate all of those disciplines has been difficult this year. Guillaume Roux, an artist and game designer, created the virtual world shown in the exhibition video. Ceramics have been scanned and replaced as monumental landscape items in the game. Small coffee cups transform into monstrous treasure island mountains. The sculptures became part of a continuous loop that moved from digital design to physical objects and then back to the virtual realm in the form of a fictional game.
