Dominick Rivers ’18, an experimental filmmaker who employs alternative photographic processes in his work, was recently showcased in the Mono No Aware Cinema Arts Festival in New York.
The 16th anniversary festival, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, presented the work of more than 50 filmmakers and artists.
Rivers’ showcased work, titled “WHEN THE SEEDS SAY ENOUGH,” was a study on the power of film and video in relation to memory and loss with specific focus on the materiality of film and the material culture of death, according to a news release. By employing alternative photographic processes, this work draws attention to the meaning invested in antiquated technology and visual language, as well as its role in our conception of videographic memory.
Using the personal archive as a raw material, “WHEN THE SEEDS SAY ENOUGH” challenged the postmortem canonization of individuals by extending their temporal influence.
By integrating technically outdated forms, Rivers uses video work, framed by larger installations, to examine the popular media used to capture and sentimentalize memory, according to the release. His research is focused on developing substitutions to alternative photographic processes to demonstrate that commonly accepted techniques can be made more accessible, environmentally sustainable, and remain emotionally exigent.
Rivers is also a multi-instrumentalist who writes, records, and produces the soundscapes and musical accompaniments to his work.
While at Wabash, Rivers majored in art and minored in film and digital media and was an independent.
