Sinuosidad

Sinuosity is made up of curved lines that are constantly transforming, creating a dynamic and changing figure. It is a composition that never stops being in motion. It flows by itself, but can also be redefined through interaction, which modifies aspects such as the scale and rotation of the figure, thus creating a new reading of the image.

“The user actively participates in the creation of meaning through their interaction with the work” (Brea, 2002, p. 6).

Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development

Inspired by productions such as Light Forms (Franke, 1953–1955), the blurred trail left by the movement seeks to intensify the effect of dynamism and fluidity, which is accentuated by the constant change of color and the alteration in the density of the lines. This work is the result of many previous ones. Everything really started much earlier, with artists like Michael Noll, who created in 1964 “Ninety Parallel Sinusoids with Linearly Increasing Period”, in turn inspired by Current (1964), by Bridget Riley, a prominent exponent of Op Art. Both also served as inspiration for this work. This made me think about how a creation from 60 years ago can still be alive and mutating into another so long later. I think this shows how, once again, art is reused, regenerated, disseminated and given new meaning through different methods, techniques and contexts. In the end, we are always producing from something pre-existing, but this does not mean that everything is already created. Thanks to the fact that the production of meaning is multiple and changing, the same work can cause many different reactions and opinions depending on who perceives it and in what context. In Sinuosity the versatility of the figure, which is nothing but can be many things at the same time, allows different forms or analogies to be found of what it could (or could not) represent. At the same time, the aim is to interact with the work, altering and creating other readings of the composition. It is interesting to analyze how the idea and perception of art changed over time. At some point it was something more “distant” and limited to certain audiences, spaces or styles, but currently it can be considered something much more accessible and open. At some point the “work of art” had an almost sacred value (or auratic, Benjamín would say), but when it became reproducible thanks to the expansion and massive use of emerging technological supports, it moved away from the contemplative nature and artistic production was positioned in another social place, where it is also a generator of social narratives, giving rise to new practices oriented to intellectuality, pleasure and meaning. A few years ago, something done by a computer or a machine would not have been considered artistic, nor would graffiti or a light projection, for example. But today they can be. Thanks to this, practices such as generative art or creative programming advance, which allow this and many other works to exist today.

Literature

Brea, J. L. (2002). Breve (y desordenado) antiglosario –o diccionario de tópicos– sobre el arte electrónico. En La era postmedia (pp. 4–8). Gedisa.

Brea, J. L. (2008). Redefinición de las prácticas artísticas (s. XXI). En La era postmedia (pp. 106–113). Gedisa.

Benjamin, W. (2003). La obra de arte en la época de su reproductibilidad técnica (I. Weinstock, Trad.). Itaca. (Trabajo original publicado en 1936)