Theo Triantafyllidis Wins Frieze Artist Award with Climbable Spider Installation

Theo Triantafyllidis, a new media artist from Greece born in Athens in 1988, has been awarded the Frieze Artist Award for this year. His acclaimed piece, Feral Metaverse (Spider), features a large, climbable spider sculpture that acts as a tangible entry point to an interactive video game. This installation continues his "Feral Metaverse" series, which challenges the metaverse concept of Silicon Valley by presenting a playful, tactile alternative. Participants can explore the spider's bristly exterior to find controls and screens that lead them into a harsh digital landscape, available through a demo on Steam. Triantafyllidis, who earned his MFA from UCLA’s Design Media Arts in 2016, collaborated with Google Arts and Culture for this project, their first time sponsoring the award. The spider's creation involved using Google's Gemini for photorealistic renderings, building on his previous work with "A.I. slop." He initially delved into these concepts with "Ork Haus" at Breeder Gallery in Athens in 2022. Feral Metaverse (Spider) will be exhibited at Frieze London from October 14–18.