Production history around: Bones of Tyche

Today I will be talking about my film ‘Bones of Tyche’. It was my first commissioned film, made for the Fluxus Museum in Greece. It will be available to see from the 6th of June 2025, and be around for about 3 months. After that, it will be available online. This has been the first article I have been intimidated to write — there is just so much to talk about.

Also, I will refer to a singular die as dice in this, because I find it way less confusing!

The opportunity was passed onto me by my PhD supervisor Dylan-Yamada Rice. I had read about Fluxus prior to this opportunity as an extension of my reading into the DADA and Nouveau réalisme movements.

When I saw the commission opportunity, I honestly did not think I would get it! There were so many established artists gunning for it, and I really wondered how well my pieces would work in a commissioned environment. I decided to focus on an idea that I would pursue regardless of whether I got it or not — Dice!

Above were my original thoughts. I was drawn quickly to the idea that observation was an important element of chance. That we as a species, put significance on chance events. That the world is just noise, but us witnessing it, seeing patterns within it, are what indicates value.

I also thought about the idea that dice and chance were an extension of gravity and chance (like Duchamp, Arp, and Pollock). It made me think about the idea that ‘gravity’ was understood because of a chance event (the apple falling on Newton’s head — however real that story actually is or not). It feels akin to the idea that the brain named itself, that chance allowed a method of chance to be understood.

This leads nicely into my initial thoughts of chance and its connection to a higher power. Often, throughout my life, I have decided to ‘let fate decide’ by ‘praying to the Gods of RNG’. In my day to day, I would use RNG to decide what tasks I would focus on — I would have power on what categories there are, but I would let randomness decide which ones I am to focus on. I have been doing it since I was 16 or 17. I realised very early on that I can be very task avoidant, wanting only to do activities which I find to be fun or easy. However, deciding that I would put my hands into something else, where I was not directly making the decision, made it all a lot easier for me. Through this, I started to realise that I was gaining a lot of experiences which I would not have otherwise. Every day was different, my routine being non-stagnant. Chance allowed me to be brave. Its easy to say “one day I want to X or Y”, but the list saying “okay do it” made a lot of these things real when they would not have been otherwise.

So, starting with these elements, I started to research.

Using a spider diagram like I usually do, rhizomatic connections, I started to go down some really interesting routes. Due to the nature of these webs, the below thoughts did not happen in a linear order, but I will present them by themes.

I went down a long rabbit-hole reading about how dice were used as a divination tool since antiquity, and how variants of dice have been all over the world since before recorded history. This started to transform dice in my mind to being a religious artefact. While not meant to be a Christian connection, I also realised that the six-sided die can be unfolded into a cross — I thought this was a nice simple connection to make between dice and religion.

I also did some looking into previous iterations of dice, like knucklebones, and how these slowly over time became the dice we know today.

I learnt about the Greek god Tyche, and the story of how Palamedes gave the first pair of dice to Tyche because he was blessed with good luck.

So I decided to link all of these ideas, and present them to the Fluxus Museum. There are more elements I understood at this point, but I will expand upon these later in the article.

I made a video explaining who I am, what I wanted to do, and why. This was sent to the Fluxus Museum on the 26th of December, 2024. I thought “well, now its out of my hands”.

I found out that was successful with my application on the 21st of February, 2025. Apparently out of over 1000 applicants!! From this, I went straight into film mode. Suddenly, the pressure was on!

Something I knew I wanted to do was have alternative universes — one where luck goes someone’s way, and one where it does not.

I decided to do this by making a stop motion animation made out of dice. These frames appear when people in the film are being influenced by chance. I had to make a small frame for them to fit in so it was all uniform. I chose to have 16 dice horizontally and 9 dice vertically so it would fit a 16×9 aspect ratio.

I think the final result looks good, even if the right side of the frame is smaller. Shhh… These split scenes were filmed in portrait so it would be easier to understand what would be within the frame, which I think was a good decision. I’m not used to trying to film in portrait at all, so it was an interesting experience. It was a pain though because none of my tripods allowed it, so I had to be very still in the same spot for multiple takes.

A lot of dice! They were used for many bits within the films. Months after filming these scenes, I am still finding random dice around the house..

For some of the scenes, I actually use Minecraft. I created a texture pack which was a bunch of different dice faces, as well as a bright green piece which could be used for chromakey. These were very fun to use for transitions.

Because in Minecraft, all versions of a block faced the same way, I had to manually go in and make sure there was a random assortment of dice. Otherwise it would all be ones, or twos, etc.

I really like the idea of using computer programs in ways they were not intended to be used in. I feel like art can be made within any program really. It would be fun to make an art film that just uses Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and so on. The dice sprites were actually made in Excel first to make sure I got the spacing right.

For the opening scene of the film, originally I wanted actors for the scenes. I had someone in mind for Tyche from the very beginning, however this changed after I started to play around with collage work. I created a piece for the Artemis ‘Nude not Rude’ exhibition (which was not accepted), and this led me down a wiggly route.

This resulted in me playing with DADA-esque collage work in ‘Genesis’, which was a lot of fun. In retrospect, I have realised that this creature which was made was a puppet.

Currently I am working on a longitudinal black and white piece with an artist named Phaedra — this resulted in a puppet version of me being created. Long story which will be spoken about more when ‘Communication’ gets released at some point.

So pretty much, all of these elements came together within this film, resulting in the Tyche and Palamedes stop motion collage and puppetry. Tyche’s base comes from the statue present in the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth. Palamedes’ base actually uses a bust of Odysseus from Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.

I wanted to play a little bit with the idea that history is often told by the victor, and in this case, Odysseus has overwritten Palamedes’ memory with his own enduring legacy. When I was reading, there were so many different interpretations and versions of the Greek mythos, so adding another, alternative version felt like a fun idea.

This is the type of juicy stuff that I am interested in when it comes to my PhD — how ideas can sprawl and change because of random events, projects, etc.

Below you can see a diagram of how it connects. A lot of connections are missing, but that is the nature of trying to record the connections between areas. I feel that if every important element was connected, it would always be incomprehensible.

The opening scene of the film starts with Palamedes contemplating some important decisions. They look down in an empty bowl, pondering what they are going to do in an up-and-coming battle.

Unbeknownst to Palamedes, Tyche appears behind him, producing some knucklebones. Via divination, these bones give Palamedes some information which results in him winning the battle and becoming very wealthy. I wanted these bones to literally be the bones of Tyche. Similar to how relics can be the body parts of saints and are believed to have divine power. Also, bones are another name for dice.

Palamedes, grateful to Tyche, turns her bones into the first ever dice. All future dice then, would be items which call back to a religious relic. Like communion wafers, these are a religious object which harken back to a specific object/entity.

Using the dice, she is now able to visualise chance. This could be seen as a problem.

By being able to see chance, she gains power. However, being able to see all possible outcomes, drives her mad. Similar themes were explored in my film ‘Gacha’nce’ — the idea that understanding the pressure and multitude of chance and decisions around you, can burry you. By being able to see multiple outcomes, multiple realities start to be created.

She gets two single-pip dice for eyes in the puppet version, A.K.A., ‘Snake Eyes’, a sign of bad luck. Seeing fate comes with a price. It also subtly connects to the idea that divination often leads to tragedy in Greek stories. Additionally, it links to the idea that chance has value via observation.

The plan changed a bit at this point. I originally wanted Tyche to spawn dice all over the globe when she got her vision. This would explain how dice suddenly appeared everywhere on earth at once (what in actuality is likely simultaneous invention). However, for pacing, I decided to not have this moment.

The first scenes I filmed for this piece were the shots of the dice suspended in water. Other than being a pretty shot, I wanted to somehow covey the idea of falling or gravity. Due to me not having a high speed camera, this felt like a good middle ground.

A reason I feel that film is a great medium for which to capture chance, is ‘the fall’. If we think of chance as ‘agency control’, then what is the moment at which this happens? I like to think of an explosion when imagining this idea. If we took a photo before an explosion, it is just a tranquil scene. If we took a photo afterwards, it would just be a mess. A photo as the explosion happens, does not tell you much about what something was, and what it will be. To truly capture chance, I feel that you need: pre-event, event, and post-event. Though I do realise that this is just my interpretation as of now.

In the film, I also wanted to tie in the idea of chance and observation. The idea that human observation is what gives a lot of chance its ‘value’. Harkening back to Schrödinger’s cat, the idea that when something is observed, it becomes.

Expanding upon this, truly seeing chance, and as a result it’s effect on the world, can drive you mad. By choosing not to witness the role of the dice, your fate becomes hidden. You can live without the weight of chance lingering down on you. At the end of the film, the character Louis plays, closes his eyes. The border of dice around the frame which has been shown to indicate multiple timelines disappears, the dice have no pips on them, and the film (as well as the madness) comes to a close. The power of chance has been taken away.

This idea makes me think about other mystics throughout time being blind. Tyche is blindfolded. Oracles often are blindfolded. Overall, just interesting.

The development of the ‘black dice man’ was a weird turn of events that conjured up some great ideas. Firstly, I had the idea that a cat bed, shaped like a dice could easily become a mask. So I ordered one, and it never arrived. I ordered a second one from a different seller, no dice. Only the black variant were available.

I thought originally I would invert the colours to make the dice man white in order to match the rest of the film. In the end, I decided against this.

It made the scenes feel too washed out, and a different idea started to emerge.

If white is the opposite of black, then what would be the inverse of chance? I decided that ‘fate’ would be a fair assumption. Like this, the black dice started to be a symbol for a ‘true world line’ unaffected by chance. This is why in the 3D world [Tower Unite] it’s the one black dice, either fighting or being followed by white dice. A battle of dominance.

My favourite shot in the film is when all of the 3D dice characters are watching my film ‘Gacha’nce’ which I released a year ago. It is me being surrounded by chance, consumed and buried by it. This was the start of me trying to understand chance as an idea. Cut to my current project, and its me surrounded by chance, surrounded by chance. Not only that, there is the idea of looking back, both by me and by chance itself.

It made me think about the idea that I am creating an ‘anthology of the self’. I’m not just documenting and expressing who I am or my ideas via my films, but they are helping to build/shape who I am through their creation. Each film is both a mirror and a brick. Each film is me looking internally, looking back, and pushing forward.

It all links nicely to the idea of the Foucauldian idea of “the self as discourse”. The idea that the self is produced through practice, rather than being some pre-existing truth. Anyway! That can become a large tangent!

This in a way links to me reading ‘The Dice Man’ by Cockcroft, and then me, as the black dice man, reading further about chaos. I also like that in this scene, I am being thrown in the face with dice — literally bashed over the head with chance.

For the split reality scenes, where luck either favours or does not each of the individuals, I originally filmed three different scenes per actor. In the end, I decided to only use one scene of each actor, as I did not want the piece to be drawn out. I did have a bit of an internal battle with this. Since it was a commissioned work, I wanted to make sure I was ‘giving enough’, but I also did not want to make a worse film as a result.

I’m quickly going to go over my history with each of the people involved.

Louis: I met him at my universities anime society in the second year of my undergrad (2018/2019). He has helped in a few of my projects, appearing in ‘After Images (2)’, as a robot in ‘Tinguely Feeling’, and voicing my dog Toffee in ‘diaDOGue’. He did such a great job in terms of acting in this, he quickly became one of the central roles.

Isobel: MY WIFE. Met her at the university anime society as well, at the first meeting (2017). She helps so much with almost everything I do. Thanks for being so great :D.

Sammy: Met her as part of a separate, non-university anime society in 2024. She is an actress in Plymouth, focusing more so on theatre.

Loren: He created the aforementioned non-university anime society. He works as an autism consultant and trainer.

The Dogs: Noodle and Toffee are a big part of my life. I really enjoy the fact that they have become part my film canon. I love them a lot. They previously helped out in ‘Doggy Style’ and ‘diaDOGue’.

Me: Not much to say here. I think its funny that me, the director of the piece, just straight up acknowledging that I am on camera.

Accidentally a lot of food shots were selected.. Louis throwing food in their mouth, Loren eating pudding, me cooking eggs. I’m not sure I want to dive deeper into what that says about me.

Imogen Mangle: She is a local artist who I have seen at various cons in Plymouth. From her website she “is an illustrator and comics artist based in Devon, UK. Her experiences as a queer, black mixed, autistic woman have heavily influenced her approach to narratives, which focus on feelings of otherness, discomfort, and the pursuit of comfort and acceptance.”

In the past, I had bought one of her little tooth characters. I really enjoy buying these little dudes from different local creators.

When I wanted to have some knucklebones in the film, I thought that they would be able to do it since they had worked with similar materials in the past.

They did an absolutely amazing job. I completely love and adore the props.

I primarily used them to show the transformation that took place from knucklebones into dice. I know that dice did not literally come into being like that, but it gets the point across! Creative license!

The way the transformation scene was shot was both due to my experience making After Images, and an internal reference to it, with it being a series of rapid photos sequenced together. It gives it a bit of a dream or storybook quality.

SpongePierre: They created the 3D model of the dice men. I really like this element of the project. If you want to play with the model, it is available on the Steam workshop.

I originally met SpongePierre in 2021. Back then, I was a Twitch streamer that went by ‘KuStreams’. I really enjoyed the game Tower Unite, which I streamed all the time. As a part of this, I commissioned multiple character versions, items, etc. from them. With these films, it is fun to dive back into activities I enjoyed in the past, and find new ways for old knowledge to re-emerge.

Fania Katz: I used their song ‘Whale Fiasco’ in this piece. I had used their music before in my piece ‘Tinguely Feeling’, where the song ‘Den Wölfen’ was used. For this film, I really enjoyed dipping into my past to build my future. With this, I purposefully looked at music creators I had previously engaged with.

Anastasia Forbes: I met her a few months after I met my wife. The both of them were on the same university degree together. Ana was on the trip when ‘Arc’ was filmed. In this film she helped with the puppet scene where they all appeared on screen at the same time.

There are some links to other films within the work.

There is a reference to ‘Eggistential’, one of my favourite pieces. In Eggistential, at the end of the film, the shot is reversed. This is quite hard to tell its backwards until the egg is very much un-cooked. It’s kind of interesting that destruction goes both ways. Cooked and uncooked are both destruction, depending on what you see at ‘the object’. In this piece, one side is playing forwards, and one is playing backwards. Again, it is hard to tell in the scene. On a side note, I don’t actually use that pan anymore, I cracked it out just for the shot.

For the scanning scenes, this came about because of an unfinished project. I wanted to make a film for a dome projection, and through this I learnt about various software like VisualSFM and Meshlab. Early on into playing with the software, I realised that I like the process of scanning and how the rough project looked way more than the finalised, polished models.

I think its interesting that the software works by making lots of points, and then making connections between point. All of these connections start to form a picture. It’s similar to rhizomatic analysis in a way.

The image which was scanned, Louis surrounded by dice, was a ‘Gacha’nce’ connection. It’s fitting because in Gacha’nce all of the chance surrounding the main character, ends up drowning and crushing them. Whereas in the ‘Bones of Tyche’, they manage to break away from it. It makes me wonder what will be my fate.

For the ‘Arc’ reference, I went back to Dartmoor where it was filmed with Isobel and her family. In Arc the tower looming overhead has a weird religious force to it, and in this film, the dice take over that role, literally taking its place in the frame.

One of the robots from ‘Tinguely Feeling’ appear in this film, knocking over some of the dice. I like the idea of chance interacting with chance. The same applies to the dogs and chance items. Compounding these elements is fun to play around with.

I really like that this film has become a benchmark of who I am at the moment, who I have met, where I have been, what I have done. Collecting a bunch of these experiences into one place feels like a capsule that both solidifies who I am, but also can be used to look back to and compare with at a later date.

In terms of other ideas, there was originally a plan to have a ‘red string of fate’ motif, with red thread being visible in some scenes, but this was dropped when the black dice man was introduced. I felt that it overcomplicated it otherwise.

In some of the scenes, stop motion was used to show dice being used as stamps on my skin. Adding to the idea that I was being consumed by chance, staining my skin, branding me. Funny how chance has become part of my identity. I’m not sure if that will change at this point.

Because Fluxus encourages participation within art, I used dice rolls in the same way they were in ancient greece — divination. I used a statue of Hermes as inspiration. The statue has dice rolls corresponding to different fortunes, though in the original way more dice were required (five if I recall correctly).

The process of rotoscoping, even if simple, takes forever!! Though, as I started to do it, and watch each extra frame being added, I knew it was worth it.

I wanted to make sure I had my hands praying to god, transitioning to some dice being rolled, to try and nail in that this was divination. It also shows how close these gestures can be.

It was important to me that no language was present in the piece where I could avoid it. I wanted the film to be appreciated by anyone that went to see it in the museum in Greece. Adding chance to the interpretation of what the dice rolls mean was a part of it too. This in a way adds a tarot reading element to the roll — people see what they feel within the interpretation, a way to communicate with one’s self.

A miscellaneous thought I had through all this was the idea that blowing onto things adds luck in some cultures. The idea of adding ‘breath’ to an object? Adding one’s spirit? I’m not sure.

Sony Vegas crashed 16 times while I was editing the film. Recording how many times it happened really makes each crash feel less annoying for some reason. I also used a ‘meta-editing document’ this time around to record my thoughts at each step of the edit. It made returning for 15 minute chunks feel way easier. Also, if a 15 minute chunk went nowhere, the effort was recorded and became ‘real’ — nothing felt like a waste of time.

Some shots of my work, as well as the other artists’ work has started to appear online. It is fun to see the film in the gallery. I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks of it.

I have been nervous to make the next film. I think because I put so much effort into this one, smaller ideas are feeling a little ‘silly’ or ‘not enough’ — I am currently trying to break away from that mindset and get something new done. I think the more I make, the more I think, the more I write, the better.