Works by Don Ritter compilation - Aesthetic Machinery by Don Ritter

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Selected Works by Don Ritter

Selected Works by Don Ritter 

installations 

Vested 3 

Vox Populi 6 

Intersection 9 

O telephone 12 

Skies 15 

TV Guides 17 

Fit 18 

performances 

Orpheus 19 

Badlands 20 

Digestion 22 

Elephant Keyboard 24 

image works 

The Collector Series 25 

Personal Armor 29 

early works 30 

online documentation 

links to online videos provided in this document 

documentary website at http://aesthetic-machinery.com 

detailed work documents for exhibitors at http://aesthetic-machinery.com/documents.html 

2013.5.8 

biography 

Don Ritter (b. 1959) is a Canadian artist, designer, and writer who has been active 

internationally in the field of digital media art since 1986. His large, interactive 

installations enable audiences to control their experiences through body motion, 

position, or voice. During his interactive performances, video projections are intricately 

controlled by live music. Ritter’s work has been presented at festivals, museums, and 

galleries throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. His recent writings examine the 

relationships between aesthetics, ethics, and digital media. 

Ritter’s interactive video-sound installations and performances have been presented 

at SITE Santa Fe (USA), Winter Olympics 2010 Cultural Olympiad (Vancouver), 

Metrònom (Barcelona), Sonambiente Sound Festival (Berlin), Exit Festival (Paris), Ars 

Electronica (Linz), and New Music America (New York City). His most widely exhibited 

work is Intersection, an interactive sound installation that has been presented in nine 

countries since 1993. Ritter’s work between 1988 and 1993 focused on performances 

of interactive video controlled by live, improvised music using his Orpheus software. He 

has collaborated primarily with musician George Lewis and also worked with musicians 

Nick Didkovsky, Amy Denio, Thomas Dimuzio, Ikue Mori, Geneviève Letarte, Ben Neill, 

Trevor Tureski and Tom Walsh. Ritter’s work has received support and recognition from 

the Canada Council, The Banff Centre (Canada), Pratt Institute (USA), ZKM (Germany), 

Ars Electronica (Austria), DGArtes (Portugal), the Goethe Institute (Germany), and the 

European Union Culture Programme. 

Ritter completed his graduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 

Center For Advanced Visual Studies, the MIT Media Lab, and Harvard University’s 

Carpenter Center. He has undergraduate degrees in fine arts and psychology from the 

University of Waterloo, and in electronics engineering technology from the Northern 

Alberta Institute of Technology. His professors included artist Otto Piene, film maker 

Richard Leacock, film theorist Vlada Petric, and psychologist Mark Zanna. He has held 

full-time professorships in art and design at Concordia University in Montreal, Pratt 

Institute in New York City, and currently in the College of Design at Hanyang University in 

Seoul. He lives in Berlin and Seoul. 

complete press kit at http://aesthetic-machinery.com/documents/Ritter_Presskit.pdf 

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Ve s t e d 

interactive video-sound-light installation, 12 x 19 m; 39 x 62 ft 

Don Ritter, 2010 

web page and online video: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/vested.html 

Visitors to the installation are invited to put on a specialized military vest and walk in front of a 

large video projection of well-known international buildings. As the vested person walks within the 

installation, they are able to navigate through panoramas of prestigious art museums, political 

buildings of the G8, ancient buildings, towers, or well-known churches and temples. The vested 

person is also tracked and illuminated by two green spotlights, while live video of the vested person 

is overlaid with the panorama. By pressing the red button on the vest, the person can trigger large 

explosions with sound. 

. 

exhibitions of Vested 

Cultural Olympiad, Winter Olympics, Vancouver, Canada. 2010 

Move – New European Media Art, Halle-Saale, Germany. 2009 

selected reviews 

Ravasani, Donya. (2010) “Terror als Kunst.” Kulturzeit, 3sat TV broadcast, Berlin, Germany. 

http://aesthetic-machinery.com/videos_Kulturzeit.html 

Kluszczynski, Ryszard W. (2009) “Don Ritter’s Vested: Action and Responsibility.” 

http://aesthetic-machinery.com/documents_pdf/Ritter_Vested_Kluszczynski.pdf 

Behnk, Judith (2009) “Move - New European Media Art.” ART: Das Kunstmagazin, 

http://www.art-magazin.de/kunst/23088/werkleitz_festival_halle 

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“Ritter’s installation applies technological mechanisms so 

as to reveal cultural, internalized ones that pretend to be the 

mechanisms of an individual free will. By unveiling them, 

he offers recipients an opportunity to overcome them.” 

Ryszard W. Kluszczynski, Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland

Vox Po p u l i 

interactive video and sound installation 

5 x 8m (15 x 25ft) single screen version; 13 x 15m; 40 x 45ft three screen version 

Don Ritter, 2005-2009 

web page and online video: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/voxpopuli.html 

A large video projection of a crowd yells “speech, speech” and encourages visitors to speak from 

a lectern equipped with a microphone, while a teleprompter on the lectern provides the text of 

historical speeches. When a visitor delivers a speech through the microphone, the text scrolls on the 

teleprompter, the crowd responds with varying degrees of hostility, support or ridicule, and the visitor’s 

speech is mixed with the screaming of the crowd through a sound system. 

. 

Within Vox Populi, anyone can adopt the role of leader and speak the words of Martin Luther King Jr, 

John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush, and others. Visitors are free to speak whatever they want through 

the microphone, but most read the speeches provided. The amount of confidence within the leader’s 

voice will control various aspects of the installation, including the specific response of the crowd and 

scrolling of the text on the teleprompter. If a leader speaks continuously for four minutes at a high 

volume and tempo, the crowd remains enthusiastically supportive. Philosopher David Hume writes, 

“Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.” 

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exhibitions of Vox Populi 

Mediations Biennale Poznan, Poland. 2010 

Kunsträume Burg Eisenhardt, Belzig, Germany. 2009 

ConcentArt, Berlin, Germany. 2009 

Galerija Kibela, Maribor, Slovenia. 2009 

Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. 2006 

SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. 2005 

NAME Festival, Lille, France. 2005 

Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, USA. 2004 


Indyke, Dottie (2005) “Surrounded By Art; SITE Santa Fe Show Makes Work Personal for Viewers,” 

Albuquerque Journal, September 23. USA. 

http://aesthetic-machinery.com/documents_pdf/Ritter_DottieIndyke.pdf 

Indyke, Dottie (2006) “Dana Schutz, Charles Long, Don Ritter.” ARTnews. March. USA. 

http://aesthetic-machinery.com/documents_pdf/ritter_artnews.pdf 

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice 

is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are 

insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity 

of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, 

a check that will give us upon demand the riches of 

freedom and the security of justice. 

Martin Luther King, Jr, “I Have A Dream,” 1963 

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Vox Populi, SITE Sante Fe, USA. 2005

I n t e rs e c t i o n 

interactive sound installation 

dark room, 10 x 13m, 30 x 40ft (4 lane version) or 20 x 15m, 60 x 45 ft (8 lane version) 


web page and online video: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/intersection.html 

Visitors encounter the sounds of 4 or 8 lanes of car traffic rushing across a completely dark space while 

a dimly lit exit sign on the other side of the room instructs them to venture into the random moving 

traffic. If visitors encounter a car in the darkness, it comes to a loud screeching halt with its engine idling 

in front of the visitor. When a visitor steps away from a stopped car, it quickly accelerates past the visitor 

and across the room, then it slowly fades out into the darkness. When a visitor remains in front of a 

stopped car for more than a few seconds, a continuous pile-up of cars is created with smashing sounds 

behind the stopped car. Hundreds of visitors can be in the installation at one time, each capable of 

affecting the traffic. 

“Intersection creates a space which pivots the viewer between sensations of empathy and tension, 

presenting an environment that is a metaphor for both modern life and its accompanying anxieties.” 

(Bruce Johnson, Sound Symposium 94) 

Intersection has been experienced by over 600,000 viewers in nine countries. 

ZKM International Media Art Award Nomination, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2000 

Comtec Art Anerkennung/Recognition, Dresden, Germany, 1999 

top view of installation 

audio speakers 

car approaching 

car leaving 

car screeching and idling 

10 x13m, 30 x 40ft 

cars smashing 

visitors 

exhibitions of Intersection 

CAN Foundation/Space Can, Seoul, South Korea. 2011 

Les Chants Mécaniques, Lille, France. 2007 

SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. 2005 

Exploratorium, San Francisco, USA. 2005 

The Works Festival, Edmonton, Canada. 2004 

Art Future 2000, Taipei, Taiwan. 2000 

Exit Festival, Créteil, France. 2000 

Via Festival, Maubeuge, France. 2000 

Kunst Haus/Comtec Art, Dresden, Germany. 1999 

Metronòm, Barcelona, Spain. 1997 

New York Coliseum, New York City, USA. 1997 

Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria. 1996 

Sonambiente Sound Festival, Berlin, Germany. 1996 

Images du Futur, Montréal, Canada. 1995 

Sound Symposium, St. John’s, Canada. 1994 

European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany. 1993 

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Intersection, equipment not visible in the darkness

Don Ritter’s art tells the story of what technology is doing to us every day. His work makes visible the 

invisible force-field of technology. In Heidegger’s sense, Ritter ‘presences’ technology. We are always 

being smashed by the freeway traffic of high technology. The overwhelming feeling is one of fear of the 

techno-unknown: chance bodies, chance sounds, chance accidents. Darkness hits, and you step off the 

curb. 

Arthur Kroker, The Will to Technology and the Culture of Nihilism: Heidegger, Nietzsche & Marx 

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O t e l e p h o n e 

8 channel interactive sound installation, 6 x 6m, 20 x 20ft 


web page and online video: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/otelephone.html 

Six modified 1960’s telephones are arranged in a circle within a darkened room, and 

each randomly rings with a distinctive sound. If a visitor answers a ringing phone, 

the sound om is heard through the handset and through the speaker in the body 

of the phone. When visitors answer other ringing phones within the installation, 

the resulting om sounds will pan through all the answered phones. If no ringing 

telephones are answered by visitors, the telephones will spontaneously begin a 

new composition comprised of panning om sounds. If visitors pick up a telephone at 

this time, all sounds will stop and the phones will eventually start ringing again.The 

various meanings of om include the sound of existence, the sound of the universe, 

and the sound that contains all other sounds. Within O telephone, audiences are 

provided with a collaborative sonic environment where they are encircled with the 

sound and the concept of om. 

exhibitions of O telephone 

Hermes’ Ear Festival. Brno House of Arts, Czech Republic. 2009 

Les Chants Mécaniques, Lille, France. 2007 

Ballhaus Naunynstraße, Berlin, Germany. 2007 


Cseres, Jozef (2008) “Co ze se to dnes deje se zvuky v prostoru?” 

His Voice, #2. Prague, Czech Rep. 

Debatty, Régine (2007) “o telephone” we-make-money-not-art.com. Berlin, Germany. 

Cseres, Jozef (2006) “Don Ritter” Hermes’ Ear. 

Nové Zámky: Kassák Centre for Intermedia Creativity. Slovakia. 

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two channel panning 

three channel panning 

six channel panning 

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S ki e s 

interactive video and sound installation, 17x17m, 50x50 ft 


web page and online video: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/skies.html 

A large dark room contains two video projections of a night sky, one on the 

floor and one on the back wall. When visitors walk onto the video projection, 

black paths appear under their feet at specific locations. As the five hidden 

paths are discovered by multiple viewers, the imagery and sound transform 

according to the specific paths discovered. Depending on which paths are 

found, the environment projected will be a night sky, day sky, water, land, 

or a sunny sky. The installation uses a “collaborative interface” which forms 

a hierarchy of imagery and sound based on the cooperation of the visitors. 

Skies requires that people cooperate with each other in order to experience 

the work completely. The installation can accommodate an unlimited number 

of viewers. 

exhibitions of Skies 

Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada, 1998 

produced with major support from the Canada Council and the Banff Centre for the Arts 

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T V G u i d e s 

interactive video and sound installation with live television 

5x8m, ,15x25 ft 


Viewers confront a living room environment containing a television illuminated with a spotlight. The 

television plays live television broadcasts, presenting typical afternoon programming of soap operas, 

talk shows, advertisements, and TV game shows. The imagery on the television is overlaid by cross 

hairs within a circle, giving the impression that the programs and the viewer are separated by a viewing 

scope. In response to any movement by the viewers, the television sound fades out and the cross hairs 

recede into black followed by text on the screen that requests viewers to remain still. The live television 

imagery and sound will resume only when the viewers are motionless for at least 5 seconds. Each time 

a television program is switched off by viewers’ movements, a different text message is provided on the 

screen of the television, including “Please Remain Still,” “Be Calm,” or “Just Relax.” 

exhibitions of TV Guides 

Siggraph 99, Los Angeles, USA. 1999 

New York Coliseum, New York City, USA. 1997 

Cyber Monde, Montréal, Canada. 1997 

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F i t 

interactive video & sound installation, 5 x 9 m, 15 x 18 ft 


web page and online video: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/fit.html 

When a viewer moves in front of the projection and into the spotlight, the video projection of 

the aerobics instructor begins exercising to music. If a viewer stops moving, the instructor 

also stops exercising. If a viewer exercises non-stop, the music and the instructor’s 

exercising will increase in tempo until an absurdly fast level is reached. Although the aerobics 

instructor is technically controlled by the physical motion of audiences, viewers discover 

that they are psychologically controlled by the instructor as they feel compelled to exercise 

progressively faster. 

exhibitions of Fit 

Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland. 2008 

Taipei Gallery, New York, USA. 1999-2000 

New York Coliseum, New York, USA. 1997 

Pratt Institute, New York, USA. 1997 

SAM Museum, Osaka, Japan. 1994-95 

Images du Futur, Montréal, Canada. 1993 

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O r p h e u s 

Orpheus interactive software: video controlled by live music 

Don Ritter, 1988-1993 

Prix Ars Electronica Honourary Mentionn for Orpheus: Current Diversions, 

interactive art category Linz, Austria. 1991 

George Lewis and Don Ritter, 1990 

Between 1988 and 1990, Lewis and Ritter presented over 20 interactive 

video performances controlled by Lewis’s improvised trombone. Their work 

is documented in the film, On The Edge: Improvisation in Music (1990), 

produced by Channel 4, London, UK. 

Don Ritter, interactive video performance using Orpheus, Art Institute of Chicago, 1990 

selected interactive video-music performances by Ritter and Lewis 

Art Institute of Chicago, USA. 1990 

Verona Jazz Festival, Verona, Italy. 1990 

The Kitchen, New York City, USA. 1990 

Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, Victoriaville, Canada. 1990 

Computer Music Festival, Seattle, USA. 1990 

A Space, Toronto, Canada. 1990 

New Music America 1989, New York City, USA. 1989 

Alternative Museum, New York City, USA. 1989 

Media Lab/MIT, Cambridge, USA. 1988 

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B a d l a n d s 

multi-channel interactive video and sound installation and performance, 25:00 min. 


web page and online video: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/badlands.html 

The Badlands is a terrain in Western Canada that achieved its form through thousands 

of years of erosion from wind and water. In addition to being an major site for fossils 

and dinosaur bones, the landscape is distinctive because of its alien and uninhabitable 

appearance. Within this work, processed imagery of the Badlands is controlled and 

manipulated by live music. 

selected performances and exhibitions of Badlands 

Brno International Music Festival, Brno, Czech Republic. 2009 

Kibla, Maribor, Slovenia. 2009 

Strictly Berlin/GdK, Berlin, Germany. 2007 

Sklenëná Louka, Brno, Czech Republic. 2006 

Intro Festival, MIllenáris Park, Budapest, Hungary. 2005 

Sonic Light Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands, with Ikue Mori. 2003 

Western Front, Vancouver, Canada. 2003 

EI, New York, USA, with Kathy Supové. 2001 

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D i ge s t i o n 

multi-channel interactive video and sound installation and performance, 25:00 min. 

computers, custom interactive software, synthesizer, video projections and sound system 


web page and online video: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/digestion.html 

An ambiguous narrative performed by abstractions of boiling water, Digestion attempts to hypnotize 

viewers through synchronized relationships between sound and moving imagery. Influenced by early 20th 

Century experimental animation, Digestion presents processed imagery that is interactively transformed 

by live or recorded sound into a series of mechanical movements. 

selected performances and exhibitions of Digestion 

CAN Foundation, Seoul, South Korea. Digestion, with Soo-jung Ka. 2011 

Kibla, Maribor, Slovenia. 2009 

Sklenëná Louka, Brno, Czech Republic. 2006 

Intro Festival, MIllenáris Park, Budapest, Hungary. 2005 

Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival, Canada. 2003 

Sonic Light Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands, with Ikue Mori. 2003 

Western Front, Vancouver, Canada. 2003 

Riva Gallery, installation, New York, USA. 2001 

EI, New York, USA, 2001 

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E l e p h a n t Key b o a rd 

interactive music instrument for elephants 

1x1x3m (3x3x9 ft), 450Kg (1000lb) 


Thai Elephant Conservation Center, Lampang, Thailand 

web page and online video: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/elephant.html 

The Elephant Keyboard is an interactive music instrument that was designed 

to be played by elephants. This instrument was used within the Thai Elephant 

Orchestra project, which took place during January, 2000 at the Thai Elephant 

Conservation Center in Lampang, Thailand. This project contained various 

acoustic musical instruments that were played by elephants. 

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The Collector Series 

archival prints on water colour paper 

18 prints in the series, 33x48 cm, edition of 15 

2011 

The Collector Series is a conceptual work that conveys activities within the high-end 

art world, including artist exhibitionism, provenance, art forgery, and art theft. The 

work is comprised of nine pairs of associated prints. 

documentation of the complete series: 

http://aesthetic-machinery.com/documents/Collector_Series_Ritter.pdf 

exhibitions of The Collector Series 

MIM & MORE, Berlin, Germany. 2012 

SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, USA. Benefit Auction. 2011 

ConcentArt, Berlin, Germany. 2010 

in the collection of 

Sandra Deitch, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA 

Flavio Bagioli, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

Astrid Randerath, Berlin, Germany 

Klaus Brodbeck, Berlin Germany 

Jungha Roh, Seoul, South Korea 

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The Collector Series, #1 

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The Collector Series at SITE Santa Fe, USA. 2011

Personal Armor 

archival prints on watercolour paper 

13 prints in the series, each 33x48 cm 

2008 

Photographic series depicting various civilian objects in a normal and armorized state. 

exhibition of Personal Armor 

GdK, Berlin, Germany. 2008 

in the collection of 

Astrid Randerath, Berlin, Germany 

Susanne Hoss, Berlin Germany 

Michelle Letelier, Berlin Germany 

documentation of the complete series: 

http://aesthetic-machinery.com/documents/Personal_Armor_Ritter.pdf 

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Early Works 

Stithy, interactive video installation, 10x10m (30x30 ft), 1988 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Center for Advanced Visual Studies 

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Salt Works, 1985, rock salt and copper (pennies) 

Ottawa, Canada, 1985 

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d 

Untitled, oil paint on canvas, 33x40 cm, 1982 

collection of Sylvia Kraus, Toronto 

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artist’s studio, Berlin, 2008 

Don Ritter 2012 

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Works by Don Ritter compilation - Aesthetic Machinery by Don Ritter

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