POINT A, POINT B, POINT C
In How Long is the Coast of Britain, one of Benoit Mandelbrot’s first papers on the subject of fractal geometry, the author explores the coastline paradox; the notion that the length of a coastline depends on the method and accuracy of the tool used to measure it. Point A, Point B, Point C consists of two iterations of a larger project interested in locating three places in Pittsburgh where from each the other two are visible. Point A, Point B, Point C is Informed by the coastline paradox, fractal geometry, and the consideration of the potentially infinite nature of measurement in relation to the experience of place.
SEARCHING FOR THE SUBLIME
A one month participatory project anchored around the act of building an ephemeral clay house on Bishop's Beach in Homer, Alaska. Jimmy Riordan, Michael Gerace and Jesus Landin Torrez III worked with members of the Homer community on the collective design, building and firing of the cenotaph. The building site served as a location for the discussion of the sublime and alternative forms of building and living.
Photographs by Michael Gerace and Jesus Landin Torrez III
SOCIAL OBJECT ORGANIC LINE
Is art a hyperobject? Can you practice philosophy through doing instead of writing? How can materialist philosophies contribute to social practice/social justice? How do aesthetics relate to causality? What does it mean to deanthropocentrize relation based artmaking? Social Object Organic Line was a series of public projects Riordan developed in collaboration with the Institute for American Art in Portland, ME. Made up of walking groups, workshops, screenings, and reading groups, each event explored a different caveat within the philosophy of new materialism, through art, phenomenology, science, participation, and critique.
TALKING TRANSLATION
Riordan organized this cross-disciplinary conversation on the subject of language and translation. Journalist Kathleen McCoy moderates four panelists include historian and translator Alice Rearden, Eyak language specialist Guillame LeDuey, Community Coordinator for the Eyak Language Project Barb Sappah and Riordan himself, speaking about translating Le Roman du Lièvre without knowing French. The musical group Pamyua contributes to the panel by exploring the topic through song.
LE ROMAN DU LIÈVRE - READINGS/MEALS
From September 2014 through December 2018 Riordan toured his translation of Le Roman du Lièvre, reading from the text and annotating the story with insights about translation, the letterpress printing of the book and accounts of the project's history. The readings began with casual discussion of letterpress and the sorting of lead type used in the printing process and concludes with the ceremonial melting of this monotype, resulting in unique forms. Many of these readings were accompanied by themed meals.
SEEKING THE SOURCE
Seeking the Source was a weeklong mapping expedition that took place from May 17 – 23, 2015 along the Chester Creek in Anchorage, Alaska. A residency of sorts, Seeking the Source focused on the Chester Creek, the Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek trail, and adjacent parks and neighborhoods. The eight crew member mapped the trail, each in their own way, while also attending public gatherings with individuals with either cultural, historical or scientific expertise on the area. The crew also met with different individuals and groups that use the trail on a regular basis. The project was documented through an augmented reality guidebook and on the website www.chanshtnu.com.
Photographs by Michael Conti
20.5CM
In the fall of 2014 Riordan was informed that he had a huge tumor growing in his abdomen. The growths initial description was limited to a single measurement, its longest dimension: 20.5cm. Made up of experiments in a variety of mediums, including AR, video and sculpture, 20.5cm explored the body, trauma, mortality and the use of metaphor to imagine the internal as landscape.
VIEWS
Two installations at the Anchorage Museum, Points of Interest and 14,000 Feet were a part of the Museum's Polar Lab project and installed in the summer of 2015.
For 14,000 Feet (right) Riordan installed panoramic images of the view from the 14,000 foot basecamp latrine on Denali into some of the Museum's restroom stalls. The image was cropped from a larger photograph taken by Coley Gentzel.
Points of interest (bellow) was a series of six 3D printed viewfinders spread around the Museum's galleries at the time of the Anchorage Centennial. Each viewfinder was designed to direct the users vision towards a single point of interest (POI) outside of the Museum, in the Anchorage area, important to local Dena’ina Athabascan peoples. The viewfinders were accompanied by specific site information, instructions for use and a downloadable augmented reality app designed to assist users in visiting each POI.
LE ROMAN DU LIÈVRE - 1902/2008/2014
In 2008 Jimmy Riordan translated the poet Francis Jammes’ turn of the century novel Le Roman du Lièvre from French into English not knowing French. In June 2014, after over five years working around the text, Riordan printed his translation.
With the help of the community at Zygote Press in Cleveland, OH, printing was approached through a participatory process modeled after the educational philosophy of Jacques Rancière’s Ignorant Schoolmaster.
The edition of 250 was set in mono-type and hand-printed on a Vandercook press. The cover was printed on paper hand made specifically for the project at the Morgan Conservatory.
