Abstract
Contemporary art has taken different directions, the most recent artwork of the Mexican artist Gilberto Esparza deals mostly with microorganisms, environment issues and electronic media focused on different kinds of transformations and implications. In his last project entitled Plantas Nómadas (Nomadic Plants), up to date technological developments are integrated into his artwork that navigates the everyday life proposing a new urban ecosystem. His work is based on the recycling of consumption technology, human wastes and a robotic mechanism that survives from served waters and solar energy. The complex system obtains the nutrients from bacteria contained in polluted water, those bacteria are temporarily lodged in a micro biotic chamber of the robot and together with two flexible solar cells provide the necessary energy to keep the machine moving and feeding a green plant. The hybrid machine-nature ecosystem tries to adapt itself to an altered state of nature. The fourth and last step of the riveting project that is under development at the University of Guanajuato in Mexico can be seen on the web page: plantasnomadas.com
- Reynaldo Thompson obtained his bachelors degree on Architecture at the University of Guanajuato, Mexico where he is a full time professor. He gained his Ph. D. on Aesthetic Studies in 2004 from the University of Texas at Dallas under the direction of Dr. Richard Brettell. Previous to his studies in the United States, he also made postgraduate studies on architecture in France and Spain. He has shown his work in collective and solo shows in spaces such as the Dallas Museum of Art for the Day of the Death (October-November, 2002), the Centro Cultural de España in Mexico city with the show Chateau de l’ame: trilogy of water (Februar- March, 2006) and the Museum of Modern Art of Santo Domingo with the video-installation Red Alive (June 14, 2008) as well as in other public and private spaces. Dr. Thompson also participated during the month of October 2008, in an experimental project in London organized by Phyllida Barlow and sponsored by the Arts Council of England entitled What do artists do?, In June 2009 he had a solo show in Demolden Gallery Project in Santander, Spain. He had also participated in artists and academic residency programs in Dallas, Texas; Taliesin, Wisconsin and the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkatta, India. Presently he participates as editor for the Art and Literatura e-electronic journal Rupkatha and has published the book about digital art with his colleagues Dr. Salvador Estrada and Fatima Hernandez. In February of this year, he was the plenary speaker at the Second International Conference on Emerging Applications of Information Technology in Calcutta, India. plantasnomadas.com Video: Plantas nómadas
- Juan Angel Mejia [ISEA2011 provided no biographical information]
Full text (PDF) p. 2369-2375