project
The Evolution of Silence Version 2 (V2)
multimedia—generative HD/4K video with sound, duration variable, made with Processing
Independent self-directed research and creative project examining archival imagery that documents the testing of structures and mannequins in marketing materials promoting the atomic bomb and constructs cultural representations

The Evolution of Silence Version 2 (V2) is a generative video animation whose imaging is created through code and scanning. The project focuses more deeply on the human element, the built environment, and the narrative constructions surrounding testing. The project gathers official government data and connects it with other visual data from sources across time. Using collected archival images, I examine the before and after of nuclear explosions, and focus on the materiality and physicality of the fifty (50) L.A. Darling Co. mannequins which withstood the impact of a nuclear bomb on March 17, 1953—as a way to consider the impact on people, animals, and the plant environment. Dressed in clothing from the downtown-Las Vegas J.C. Penney retail store and featured in newspaper advertising, the 50 mannequins were used by the Federal Civil Defense Administration Program to promote nuclear testing to the public. The image compositions in V2 are generated dynamically with code (Processing) and are a counterpart to the abstract and remote view of the land in V1 (the web-based map of Yucca Flat). The visuals point to the personal and bodily impact of those people who worked on site, and who lived nearby in the region and downwind of the test site—especially during the period of atmospheric nuclear testing period at the Nevada Test Site from 1951 to 1962. The image compositions offer historical and cultural perspective on the ways that war is marketed to the public. The project is an inquiry into identity, domesticity, race, and representation and seeks to pose critical questions about the relationship between design and violence.

credits
© Rachele Riley
Funded in part through a creative research grant from the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG).
Intial development at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Special thanks to Casey Reas.
Sounds, Djgriffin “Gongs & Bells,“ Plagasul “Ambiences,“ (voice and sound textures)

exhibitions
→ Artist Replete Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2024
→ DesignIquiry: Futurespective, Portland, ME, 2021
→ Digital Disobedience, Albuquerque, NM, 2018
→ Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington, NC, 2018 (premiere)