INDIVIDUO

In this work, I did not seek to create something aesthetically pleasing, as I believe that authenticity does not need to be “beautiful” to be meaningful. The main purpose is sincere expression and reflection, rather than following aesthetic conventions. From this, I question whether something that serves as an emotional release or personal exploration can be considered a work; From my point of view, yes it is.

I focused on exploring authenticity and asking if we are truly ourselves, both with others and when we are alone. The work reflects the search for an authentic “I”, showing how each person who meets me has a different version of me. These diverse perceptions converge in a single individual.

Furthermore, I wonder if by knowing who I am, I will be able to understand where I belong. However, I think I don’t need to have it figured out, but rather it is something that is discovered gradually. In this “age of immediacy”, I look for immediate answers, but there are also moments when I feel disconnected, alone. This work is very personal, a means of emotional release, more than a philosophical reflection. It doesn’t identify me.

Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development

The work “Individuo” invites the viewer to see their own reflected image while two questions are successively repeated at eye level. To achieve this, I used a feature of the p5.js program that accesses the camera and projects the observer’s image onto the canvas, which has a size of 700 x 700. The questions are inserted directly into this space and repeated successively.

To give it a dynamic touch, I used a control structure that generates a frame that surrounds the main image, like a mosaic. Within this frame, the same image is repeated in small squares with red tones, which change in size as time passes. This creates a sense of movement and transformation, causing each viewer’s image to be seen in different versions over time. Showing the countless versions of oneself that exist.

In my work, I explore authenticity and the construction of identity as continuous and constantly transforming processes. This leads me to reflect on the ideas of César Aira and Inke Arns, whose proposals open interesting paths to think about the authentic “I” and its relationship with the social context.

Aira suggests that reproduction can never capture the essence of the original work, generating a “missing” that gives rise to new interpretations. This connects with my view of authenticity: it is not something fixed, but a dynamic process, built through a void that is filled with new perceptions and experiences. Authenticity is not about being “authentic” once, but about always being in the act of being authentic, constantly reinterpreting. Aira also mentions that contemporary art is constructed in a “perpetual present,” which leads me to think of identity as something that does not have to be completed in the future, but is constantly constructed in the present, in every interaction and moment.

On the other hand, Arns reflects on the code as a performative act, something that goes beyond being a technical tool. This idea allows me to see authenticity as something that is not possessed, but continually performed in every moment of introspection and relationship with others. My identity, then, is not fixed, but rather an act that is built over time.

Arns also highlights that the code has a social impact, which leads me to think that authenticity is built in relation to others and the contexts in which we are immersed. Authenticity not only depends on what I think of myself, but on how others perceive me and what society understands as authentic.

Thus, my work questions authenticity as something that is possessed, but as an act that is constantly redefined, fueled by what is missing and by how emptiness allows us to continue searching.

Literature

AIRA,César. (2010). “Sobre el atre contemporáneo”. Editorial Grijalbo-Mondadori.

ARNS, Inke. (2005). “El código como acto de habla performativo”. https://artnodes.uoc.edu/ .