Rice grains to represent abstract statistics in new art installation

Sunday 01 September 2024

An exhibition that uses grains of rice to represent human statistics and bring abstract numbers to life is set to appear in Jersey this month for the first time in its two-decade existence.

ArtHouse Jersey’s Capital House will soon be transformed into a landscape of rice piles with each grain symbolising an individual person.

These rice piles, labelled and arranged on the floor of the St Helier exhibition space, aim to make abstract numbers more tangible while offering a visually striking way to understand global and local data.

Pictured: 'Of All The People In All The World' is a performance installation that uses grains of rice to bring what can be abstract statistics to life. 

The installation, called 'Of All The People In All The World', will run from 18 September to 6 October. 

Stan's Cafe, the Birmingham-based theatre company behind the project, has been running the installation since 2003.

However, next month is the first time it will appear in Jersey. 

Visitors will see piles depicting everything from the populations of towns and cities, to the number of deaths in the Holocaust, from daily birth and death rates, to the number of people who have walked on the moon.

By showing rather than telling, this tangible representation of statistics encourages viewers to engage with data in a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant way. 

Pictured: Over the course of 17 days, performers will carefully weigh out quantities of rice to represent a host of human statistics. 

James Tyson, Head of Programme for ArtHouse Jersey, said: "This is a wonderful and fascinating show that makes you see the world in a startlingly different way – from the trivial to the monumental, the tragic to the hopeful.” 

'Of All The People In All The World: Jersey' will be open from 10:30 to 18:00 every Tuesday to Sunday from 18 September to 6 October at ArtHouse Jersey's Capital House in St Helier.