Federico Díaz
TransFormation Pešánek/Díaz
Artist
Federico Díaz
(1971, Praha), Czech-Argentinian
Original Title
TransFormation Pešánek/Díaz
Date2017
Mediummultimedia installation
Classificationsmultimedia installation
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionFederico Díaz is a Czech conceptual artist of Argentinian origins. He draws inspiration from current discoveries in the fields of science and medicine as well as from the relationship of humans and the digital environment. In his projects, Díaz makes use of new media and modern software, using them to analyze the ambivalence of human relation toward modern technologies and virtual reality. His interactive pieces uncover the immaterial and sensuous dimensions of everyday life which we have stopped perceiving due to technological oversaturation. Paradoxically, he excavates them using cutting-edge technologies, augmenting his plastic, software-controlled robotic objects with various light and audio effects.
Díáz showed the video installation TransFormace (TransFormation) on the facade of Kunsthalle Praha in 2017, as part of the Architecture Day festival. He sought to recreate two lost sculptures by Czech avantgarde artist Zdeněk Pešánek which were designed to adorn the facade of the Electrical Enterprises building—the current building of Kunsthalle Praha—after being shown at the International Exhibition of Art and Technology in Paris in 1937. Both Díáz and Pešánek share an interest in technological innovations, and Díaz used video to reinterpret Pešánek’s work outside its intended spatial context. He based his adaptations on archival materials and four models stored in the National Gallery Prague, using 3D scanning and animation to render their virtual likenesses. The immaterial and temporally unbounded essence of the resultant pieces is Díaz’s contribution to the complicated materiality of the original works, demonstrating the dynamic possibilities of expression offered by the nexus of art and science.
Federico Díaz (*1971, Prague) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1990 to 1997 under Aleš Veselý, Stanislav Kolíbal, and Karel Malich. Malich’s conceptualization of the world as a field of varied energetic vibrations had a particularly profound impact on Díaz’s work. Already during his studies, he abandoned traditional forms of artistic expression in favor of new media. His artistic approach was heavily influenced by the Bauhaus, Lázslo Moholy-Nagy, and the art of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, Díáz was awarded a scholarship from the Alexander Dorner Kreis, and later received scholarships to study at the Cité International des Arts in Paris and the Soros Center for Contemporary Art in Ljubljana. He has had solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (2010), Arsenale of the Venice Biennale (2011); his work has also featured shown at the Milan Triennial in 2001.He is a two-time finalist of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award (1997, 2002). Since 1994, he has been leading the group E-Area, comprising programmers, architects, and designers. From 2007 to 2014, he headed the Supermedia Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague.
Díáz showed the video installation TransFormace (TransFormation) on the facade of Kunsthalle Praha in 2017, as part of the Architecture Day festival. He sought to recreate two lost sculptures by Czech avantgarde artist Zdeněk Pešánek which were designed to adorn the facade of the Electrical Enterprises building—the current building of Kunsthalle Praha—after being shown at the International Exhibition of Art and Technology in Paris in 1937. Both Díáz and Pešánek share an interest in technological innovations, and Díaz used video to reinterpret Pešánek’s work outside its intended spatial context. He based his adaptations on archival materials and four models stored in the National Gallery Prague, using 3D scanning and animation to render their virtual likenesses. The immaterial and temporally unbounded essence of the resultant pieces is Díaz’s contribution to the complicated materiality of the original works, demonstrating the dynamic possibilities of expression offered by the nexus of art and science.
Federico Díaz (*1971, Prague) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1990 to 1997 under Aleš Veselý, Stanislav Kolíbal, and Karel Malich. Malich’s conceptualization of the world as a field of varied energetic vibrations had a particularly profound impact on Díaz’s work. Already during his studies, he abandoned traditional forms of artistic expression in favor of new media. His artistic approach was heavily influenced by the Bauhaus, Lázslo Moholy-Nagy, and the art of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, Díáz was awarded a scholarship from the Alexander Dorner Kreis, and later received scholarships to study at the Cité International des Arts in Paris and the Soros Center for Contemporary Art in Ljubljana. He has had solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (2010), Arsenale of the Venice Biennale (2011); his work has also featured shown at the Milan Triennial in 2001.He is a two-time finalist of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award (1997, 2002). Since 1994, he has been leading the group E-Area, comprising programmers, architects, and designers. From 2007 to 2014, he headed the Supermedia Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague.
