Let's imagine an apparently empty exhibition space. Suddenly, the lights come on and an extensive collection of artistic works appears before our eyes. This innovative assembly, without cartouches or panels, made up of exclusively digital pieces with QR codes to access the full content from mobile devices, can be seen, until July 9, in the Ferreres-Goerlich room of the Center del Carme Cultura Contemporània (CCCC ), from Valencia, as well as on the website https://culturaonline.consorcimuseus.gva.es/es/, created for this project.
Cultura Online is a large collective exhibition of digital works that brings together one hundred projects previously selected in a call of the same name. As explained by the director of the Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community and the CCCC, José Luis Pérez Pont, in the presentation –which was attended by a large part of the creators and also Nuria Blaya, co-curator of the sample–, the objective is “ bring the new languages of contemporary culture closer to people beyond physical space and from any location”.
Digital environments know no limits or borders, but the immediate accessibility through the network does not prevent the visit from acquiring a very special value. The assembly design includes the audiovisual installation Abismo de sucesos, a reflection on the dark-light duality and the cosmic balance achieved thanks to the balance of energies, made by Vitamin Studio and accompanied by live DJ sessions every week, by the collective Valencian theBasement.
Technologies are rapidly transforming our world; so much so that they can produce a certain sensation of vertigo. Digitization brings new challenges, without a doubt, but it also brings obvious advantages and possibilities. As Blaya explains, in this exhibition, we have the opportunity to discover "the A side of the virtual world and technologies, as a place of exchange and cultural diffusion."
The artistic proposals "offer very timely and necessary reflections, very innovative formats and, above all, different angles from which to look and position oneself in the world", adds Blaya. The diversity and depth of the projects led its curators to group them into eight major conceptual axes, drawn up from a thoughtful walk through the spaces and works, which offer an excellent overview of the most recent trends in contemporary culture.
Thus, in Virtual Worlds. Scientific metaphors, artists use technology to create a particular digital universe or explore interplanetary colonization. Paisajes, mapas y viajes proposes other revealing itineraries that weave interrelationships between time and landscape or take us into the off-screen images, to reflect on their veracity.
Actions, claims focuses on the observation of the dilemmas and daily struggles, from the impact of the crisis in the Orriols neighborhood to the gestation of the citizen initiative of the City Court, in Valencia.
New narratives, for its part, explores alternative, hybrid, mutant forms of language and creation, reflecting on the flows of signs or inquiring into our way of perceiving images. Hold the earth. Proposals and Answers addresses the ecological dilemma we face, going through the wastelands of the present through virtual reality or digitally intervening in the landscape. Echoes and reflections of a precarious society shows the most lucid disappointments with today's capitalism; while Visibles beyond gender weaves together art and feminism in a fruitful way. Sound experiences. Creative processes takes us into the processes of artistic construction and the interrelationship between image and sound.
And so up to a set of one hundred works created by artists, researchers and thinkers, born or residing in the Valencian Community, brought together in a groundbreaking proposal that began the special program for International Museum Day –celebrated on May 18. –, closely linked, moreover, with the theme of this year's celebration, Museums, sustainability and well-being, since it offers an exhibition concept that does not require physical facilities and, therefore, contributes to reducing the impact on our planet.
