Quasi-Monte Carlo is an ambitious new video work exploring patterns of randomisation and their role in the production of an image. Paul Simon Richards’ film Quasi-Monte Carlo is commissioned by Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network through FLAMIN Productions (2017). With additional support from Arts Council England Grants for the Arts, Monte Carlo Sociétés des Bains de Mer, Central Saint Martins, Silvia Fiorucci-Roman, Spike Island, Ranch Computing, Nvidia, British Airways, Gasworks and Phototechniques. With thanks to Arcade, London.

The work combines computer generated imagery and spoken word monologue in an attempt to depict an image of a dream holiday to Monte Carlo. Memories, fantasies, paranoia and desires cohere in a kaleidoscopic narrative that oscillates between the mundane and the spectacular.
Quasi-Monte Carlo is part of an ongoing body of video works dating back to 2016. The series takes its title from the name of the algorithm that Richards has used to produce the CGI footage that appears in different forms throughout these works. The equation that underpins this algorithm was originally devised during the late 19th century in and around the Monte Carlo Casino, where the work was filmed. Combining this formula with techniques borrowed from hypnotic induction and structural film, Quasi-Monte Carlo seeks to draw a link between the creation of an image in our minds – which involves the rapid processing of random information – and the creation of digital images, relating human error to questions of probability and random access.

The work includes performances by actress and Richards’ long-term collaborator, Jacky Bahbout. Costumes are designed by artist Claire Hooper and the score is produced by experimental musician Kenichi Iwasa.