Power Pixels 2014 is an exhibition of Miguel Chevalier’s latest artistic pursuits through different virtual installations and a series of static artworks. The exhibition´s guiding thread is the pixel, the keystone of all numeric imagery and the recurring motif in the work of this artist. Equivalent to the pictorial brushstroke, the pixel, enlarged, still or in motion, becomes autonomous and creates abstract universes steeped in poetry.
The exhibition’s main installation, The Origin of the World, covers one of the Foundation’s walls with a coat of pixels that evolve towards infinity. This interactive generative virtual reality work of art is inspired by biology, by micro-organisms and cellular automata. Cells multiply in abundance, divide, merge and proliferate at a sometimes slow sometimes fast rate. Everything comes together, comes apart and changes shape at top speed. These organic universes blend with constructivist universes made up of pixels in 60 consecutive tableaus.
The unstable black and white megapixels gradually give way to vivid, saturated color spirals that swirl about, performing veritable choreographies. Organic or pixelated world, this artificial universe seems to meet up with the universe of life. It is a new technological Baroque that gives shape to the formless while constantly renewing itself.
The viewer’s movement creates perturbations, oscillations, fluctuations and the vision of turbulences in the trajectories of these cells. The sinuously undulating curves are reminiscent of the artificial paradises from the 70s and create unprecedented visual experiences that remind us of psychedelic universes. This installation also evokes the motion of the Mediterranean Sea that cradles Sitges, as well as the curved shapes, vivid colors and radiance of Gaudí’s baroque architecture.
These numeric creations are supplemented by works of art that are either hung or on screens, like his luminous Infinite Pixels pieces, which invite the viewer to plunge into a universe of infinite light.
Four new sculptures entitled Radiolarians will be presented for the first time at this exhibition. These creations are born from the observation of nature and, more specifically, of microscopic animal plankton: the radiolarians. These marvels of nature left a lasting impression on many 19th century scientists like Ernst Haeckel, who researched numerous species. Miguel Chevalier brings the geometry of these extraordinary life forms to the numeric universe and presents three different sculptures created using the 3D printing technique. Considered to be the new industrial revolution, 3D printing technology makes it possible to bring virtual universes to reality and create complex shapes in the image of the radiolarians.
This exhibition launches us towards a universe where the strength of the pixel prevails and where it is joined by the strength of the voxel (the 3D pixel), in the sculpture Body Voxels – The Thinker.
Del 26 April al 12 Octobre de 2014
WINTER OPENING HOURS: 1 Octobre to 30 June
Friday: 3.30 pm to 7 pm
Saturday: 10 am to 2 pm and 3.30 pm to 7 pm
Sunday and Holiday Bank: 11 am to 3 pm
SUMMER OPENING HOURS: 1July to 30 September
Thursday and Friday: 4 pm to 8 pm
Saturday, Sunday and Holiday Bank: 11 am to 8 pm