Jon Rafman is having a moment.
Known for his haunting excavations of the internet’s subconscious, Rafman has long navigated the liminal spaces of digital culture—first as Kool-Aid Man in Second Life, and now as a bold experimenter in AI-driven visuals. The Montreal-based artist continues to reimagine our relationship with media consumption and digital mythology, using artificial intelligence as a new lens to manipulate. His latest exhibition, Proof of Concept—opening this weekend at Sprüth Magers Los Angeles—unveils a groundbreaking installation that reconfigures television for the AI era, blending nostalgia with algorithmic storytelling to challenge how we experience visual culture today.
Last spring, Rafman joined forces with Kaiber Labs to orchestrate a hypnotic audiovisual fever dream for Praying, the iconoclastic fashion label, and Live From Earth, Berlin’s boundary-pushing techno collective. Set against the glittering backdrop of Hollywood Boulevard, the collaboration transformed Academy LA into a surreal, high-intensity spectacle—a true collision of digital hallucination and underground club energy. As head-spinning techno pulsed through the venue, AI-generated creatures cascaded across the LED walls, dissolving into the strobe-lit haze of the dance floor.
Tools and Techniques
The immersive experience seamlessly blended cutting-edge technology with avant-garde aesthetics. Praying’s latest capsule collection featured designs inspired by old DIY club flyers, which set the visual tone for Rafman’s art direction. Six hours of visuals were sifted through rounds of rapid ideation, mood-setting, and meticulous planning across Figma files, After Effects, ComfyUI, C4D renders, and Kaiber’s own Flows.
In just 10 days, we produced over a thousand videos and 47 gigs of content to be mapped across various screens in the space.
Real-Time Performance
The result was a live experiment in digital immersion, with serene landscapes twisting into digital delirium, glitching and unraveling in step with the crowd’s energy.
With an adaptive system designed to suit the venue, our Labs team choreographed many apsects of the event in real time, responding to shifting sounds and lineup additions (including an impromptu monastic chanting performance as the opening act). The dynamically integrated visuals were curated across various floor-to-ceiling surfaces.
Beyond the Night
The night unfolded to sets from Joanna Kuchta, DJ Gigola, ALCATRAZ, Two Shell, and Brutalismus 3000, as visuals morphed from ‘80s game aesthetics to medieval Gregorian dreamscapes. The walls pulsed with internet-fueled sensory overload, digital lore swelling in sync with an unrelenting, high-speed tempo. An endless cascade of imagery hinted at a near-future where boundaries dissolve, experimentation pushes forward, and artists like Rafman continue to reshape digital culture in real time.
