Excerpt of Dual Mismo
Carlos Sáez (ES)
How real is our reality today? From the Latin “virtus” (strength or virtue), “virtual” is an adjective that originally refers to what has the potential to produce an effect, although it does not produce it in the present. A painting or a photograph, a video or Instagram profile of a woman does not present the real woman, but what she could be. Each generation of human beings is capable of getting used to new levels of virtuality in their lives and assuming them as real. For example, when we scroll a web page we assume that we are scrolling a column of text with images up or down but the truth is that it is an illusion, generated with computer programming since there is nothing above or below what appears on our screen and all content is instantly translated into our visual language thanks to a code. Over time we add micro perceptions like this to our reality. What we call reality could be very virtual for someone belonging to centuries past.
Carlos Sáez (* 1988) is a multidiscipline artist specialized in digital media. In his work, he often develops the relationship between the human and technology, bringing to the fore the aesthetics of the machinery itself and its programming. In 2012 Sáez created cloaque.org, a curatorial web project based on the concept of the “exquisite cadaver” which other digital artists from all over the world have collaborated on. One of the most present concepts in his work is “morphological freedom” proposed in the philosophy of extropy. For this he makes use of media such as illustration, video or 3D, to capture the desire of the human being to modify his or her natural appearance in the virtual environment. Sáez has exhibited works at MoMA in New York, Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, MAMCO in Ginebra, Museum of the Moving Image in New York, Untitled Art Fair in Miami, National Portrait Gallery in London, The Armory Show in New York, Transfer Gallery in New York, La Térmica in Málaga, Las Naves in Valencia and Espai Tactel in Valencia.