Ryan Gander: Ryan Waiting

VIVE Arts and Esther Schipper are delighted to announce the debut of multidisciplinary artist Ryan Gander’s first-ever artificial intelligence virtual reality artwork as part of the artist’s solo presentation THIS IS FEELING ALL OF IT at Esther Schipper, Berlin. The second of an ongoing collaboration between the arts initiative and the gallery, the work is co-commissioned and presented by VIVE Arts, in partnership with Esther Schipper and organised with Olivier Renaud-Clément.

Exhibited as both an individual headset experience and a wrap-around environment of monitors for visitors to walk into, Ryan Waiting features an avatar of the artist waiting in an empty, perimeter-less landscape, showcasing an uncanny life-likeness due to motion capture that retains characteristic gestures and body language.

Acting as a durational hundred-year performance and taking two years to develop, the avatar’s actions are continually self-written in real-time, whether there is a spectator watching or not; affected by time of day and external data gathered from the internet, the avatar’s mood is in constant flux.

Gander can be found waiting; evoking a sense of futility and purposelessness that emulates life and addresses the spectacularizing of the everyday. The experience highlights the state of being in-between— waiting—even deliberately ignoring any supposed audience. Gander’s work shifts the emphasis onto a rare commodity in today’s life—doing nothing, waiting, enjoying boredom, ennui—traditionally the state of inspiration, creativity, and sudden ideas. But, what is Ryan waiting for? Clearly not us, as the avatar seems to deliberately avoid us.

Engaging with the hyper-stimulation of our times, Gander chooses time and distraction as his subject, poignantly emphasizing the lack of distractions. In Ryan Waiting, visitors grapple both with anticipation and reflection while peering at the artist’s avatar lingering in wait or making some sort of everyday minutia of movement. Beyond the persistent room tone, the soundscape encountered by visitors includes specific diegetic sounds caused by the avatar’s actions, for example: whistling, yawning, movement noises, sighing. 

It’s important to note that this work will outlive us all. Addressing the question of legacy, both as a digital artwork that will endure for a century, and as a virtual manifestation of the artist, how will this digital artwork operate in a hundred years? What will happen when the performance ends? This again is left to the audience to ponder on.

Artist/Production 

Artist: Ryan Gander 

Exhibition and Production Manager: Emily Bryson 

Technical Direction: Pixels Pixels 

Technical Producer: Ivaylo Getov 

Animation Supervisor: Corey Stisser 

Pipeline: Chris Nelder 

Animation: Annie Lund, Kyle Holmsen 

Lead Modellers: Miwa Espinoza, Michele Recio 

Modelling / Texturing: Erin Jung 

Rigging: Hiram Araujo, Raymond Norton 

Production Support: Veronica So 

Motion Capture: Charlie McKay, Ross Cohen 

 
VIVE Arts 
Executive Director: Celina Yeh 
Head of Programme: Samantha King 

Head of Global Partnerships: Leigh Tanner 
Curatorial and Project Managers: Oxana Chvyakina / Nina Weng  
Technical Advisors: Marcus Nixon, Josh Vizcaino 

 

Esther Schipper
Director: Manuel Miseur 

Commission Organiser: Olivier Renaud-Clément 

Artist Liaison: Jannik Konle  

 

Ryan Gander, Ryan Waiting, 2024, artificial intelligence virtual reality simulation, monitors, headsets. Courtesy of the artist, Esther Schipper and VIVE Arts. © Ryan Gander.