Heat Tower Hot plates, brass objects and extension cords. 500 x 70 x 150 cm 2016

Transcription

1 Heat Tower Hot plates, brass objects and extension cords. 500 x 70 x 150 cm 2016

2 This sculpture was made out of brass objects (bowls, cymbals, ritual and everyday objects) balanced and taking the shape of a medium size tower resting over three hotplates connected to yellow extension cords. Three cords lead to small tower made out of brass objects, one can see they are just balanced over the plates, everything seems connected to a power outlet in the gallery. As one approaches the heat off the object start to be present as the hot plates reach the temperature they turn on and off, making visible a sort of cycle of red spirals turning shining subtly. The tower heats over time but never reaches one single temperature, the exchange off energy with space is constant. With this sculpture I wanted to make temperature one of the materials, influencing the space and the experience of the viewer. The subtle information, in this case heat, in the space and around the sculpture, is part of the investigation I m doing over entropy as a material present in the artwork, as information relevant the somatic experience of the object and as an element that could subvert mine and the viewers sense of stability and permanence.

3 External Affect Installation, mixed media. Variable measures. 2014

4 Metal sign that spells the word Delusional with over W bulbs, an indoor fountain, two LED signs, 150 meters extension cord and one electric generator that produces more than 8000 W/H. The sign consumed about 8000 W/h generating a significant amount of heat and light inside the space, the heat generated by the signboard caused the system that regulated the temperature inside of the gallery to counteract the excess of heat, the indoor water fountain was working producing its distinctive noise while pumping water to the top part. Both were connected via a splitter or spider box that was itself connected to a generator more than 150 meters outside the gallery and the institution. In the corner of the room were two LED signs with quotes from Lord Kelvin and Rudolph Clasius, describing in two different ways how entropy is part of processes and actions.

5 I was interested in understanding how dismissal processes work once a complex system is experienced, and how this could be linked to our relationship with the real. My central point is the relationship that energy expenditure has with entropy. How as this chaotic force could be presented as relevant information that adheres to the system itself, intrinsically related to human and extrahuman action. The piece worked with the apparent circularity of the internal system, but as one deepens by experiencing it, its scope expands, from the gallery space to outside the institution, from one system into another.

6 Untitled (Systema) Installation. Mixed media. Variable measures. 2013

7 This installation consists of a closed room built inside the gallery, made with black and semi-transparent plastic walls, neon lights connected to timers, fresh fruit, exhaust fans, two glass bottles, one filled with water and the other with food paste, and about 400 fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). After going through the sliding door one enters the gallery where a corridor starts, leading onto a second one, once open it gives access to a second room. At the back one sees how the neon lights are positioned to illuminate in different angles a set of fruit and to generate contrast between the background and the subject. When approaching the flies that were perched on the fruit began to fly and the contrast between the background and the light makes them appear and disappear from sight. Under the table are the two glass bottles, which provide moisture to the air, so

8 that the fruit does not dry too fast, and the second contains a food medium for the flies to breed, which after a few days will be swarming the fly eggs and larvae, growing and crawling inside. With this setup, I was interested in the phenomenon of miodesopsia and how it can affect one s relationship with an image and/or experience. Through the use of a traditional Dutch painting reference as a focal point, I was trying to submerge myself and the viewer into a space that seemed to be stable, but the strange smell of the rotting fruit, the high contrast of the lights, the slightly elevated temperature and the small flies coming in and out from the field of vision created the sensation that the tangible image wobbled slightly, made it evident in subtle way, that the piece was mutating before our eyes. I was concerned on how constant change in the visible and the invisible leaves oneself in a position of uncertainty and expectation that questions the one s relationship with the present and the real.

9 Untitled (Microsystem) video 9:45 min. 2012

10 Large format projected one channel video, shows the evolution of creamy colored plane made with in vitro culture media with a greenish straight line made with mold in the center. The video shows a time-lapse of a surface changes over time, how it darkens and how tiny spots appear all over it. Also how the main line changes, thickens and the all over color changes. These changes are subtle and barely perceivable during the 9 minutes that the video lasts, but after seeing the beginning and the end there is no doubt about their occurrence.

11 This piece gives closure to small investigation around the act of drawing and the relationship that it could have with uncertainty. Through the use of simple elements like a line on a plane, the dialog between control and chaos during the drawing act is inquired. The presence of a diversity of organisms work as active components of the drawing, while one s gaze focuses on the randomness of the process. Observation and patience become relevant in one s dialogue with the artwork, while the organisms behavior on the plane takes away control from the author. Randomness and uncertainty become evident and the drawing acquires time as one of its mechanisms.

12 Untitled (Open System) Installation. Mixed media. 260 x 150 x 190 cm

13 This installation consisted of a cardboard structure made with hexagonal internal structures whose dimensions were 260 x 150 x 190 cm. It had an incandescent orange lighting system between 3000 and 3200 K, an internal system made with plastic trays with a feeding and irrigation systems, that provided a carbohydrate paste and water to keep living organisms alive and inside the structure there were around 1000 live crickets distributed in the different levels. By opening the door to the room one could see how the space was illuminated by the structure in the center, rhomboid shapes in different shades of orange were projected on the walls. The space was quiet, but after few minutes weak whispers of crickets began to sound. As time passes thevolume would increase, by moving around the central structure ones presence was perceived by the crickets and the nearest ones became silent, leaving only the sound of the most distant ones. As one goes around the central structure the contingency of the sound is evident and one starts to watch the small insects within the cavities of the structure. Influenced by the time of the day the tempera-

14 ture in the room changed causing changes in the crickets position, carrying them from the central structure to the surrounding walls, to later return to the structure. This created a kind pulse from crickets within the form. The wavelength within the space kept the crickets chirping throughout the whole day. This installation explored the uncertainty that comes from the observation process, it seeks to reflect on ones presence in space and the relationship one has with the central structure. As well as the phenomenal contingency that occurred in reaction to one s movement, stillness and patience.

15 Untitled (Waterfall) Installation, steel, cotton and chlorine. Variable measures It was an installation where three pieces of fabric hung from a Steel wire, regular household chlorine was drop on the floor every day and it was absorbed by the fabric changing its color and destroying its fibers. The speed of the fabric absorbing the chlorine changed with the temperature of the room, humidity and how much chlorine was available on the floor. Getting close to the piece had an interesting sensation, the acrid smell of the chlorine was constantly present. It almost gave a warning to the viewer, but chlorine references cleanliness, especially in Latin America being constantly used to disinfect bathrooms and kitchens. The destruction was very slow but the disappearance of the color was evident, turning first into a darker shade of blue to later turning into a very light blueish. This piece was part of an exhibition called Actos Proféticos or prophetic acts in 2010, where artist were proposed the possibility of creating an artwork that could dialogue with the destruction of the world in 2012, as Mayan prophecies predicted. However my piece was intended to question the whole idea of destruction by creating a different pattern from the slow intervention of a disruptive element on the already existing color.