Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Pablo Valbuena Illuminates Architecture with Projection-Based Installations

Spanish artist Pablo Valbuena alters viewers' experiences with architecture with his projection-based installation art. Valbuena prefers to work in cavernous, abandoned spaces where he can use bright, white light to ephemerally draw on the walls. He typically arranges his projections to respond the existing architectural structure. As the geometric light projections in each piece shift, viewers' relationship to the space changes.

Spanish artist Pablo Valbuena alters viewers’ experiences with architecture with his projection-based installation art. Valbuena prefers to work in cavernous, abandoned spaces where he can use bright, white light to ephemerally draw on the walls. He typically arranges his projections to respond the existing architectural structure. As the geometric light projections in each piece shift, viewers’ relationship to the space changes.

Valbuena’s latest work, “Kinematope,” took place in the Parisian train station Gare d’Austerlitz. As viewers moved through the tunnels, light flooded each section one by one. A clicking sound accompanied each flash of light. The sounds and flashes grew faster and more intense until light filled the entire tunnel. Then it returned to blackness. As you can see in the GIFs and video below, the piece was hypnotic and disorienting to observe. Valbuena says he is interested in exploring perception and blurring the boundaries between physical and imagined spaces in his work, and “Kinematope” is no exception.

GIFs by Kevin Holmes (via Creators Project).


“Kinematope.” Gare d’Austerlitz train station, Paris, France. 2014.

“Para-Site.” Laboral centro de Arte. Gijon, Spain. 2014.


“Quadratura.” Matadero Madrid, Spain. 2010.

“Para-Site,” Mattress Factory Art Museum, Pittsburgh, PA. 2011.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Chun Sung-Myung creates surreal, figurative installations full of sculpted characters often having the artist’s own face. These dreamlike situations move between distress, somberness, and a broader vulnerability. The characters, representing part of the artist’s own psyche, often exist in modes of solitude or surrounded by otherworldly creations.
Opening on May 2, “Degeneration/Regeneration" features the paintings of Scott Greenwalt and the 3D-printed sculptures of the collaborative team of Smith|Allen (Stephanie Smith and Bryan Allen) at Oakland’s Loakal Art Gallery. It shows how artists mediate nature through art. It’s not a new concept, not by a long shot. But it’s a fertile and relevant one. On one level, the show serves as an environmental call to arms. Any recent image of industrial Chinese cities affirms the show’s significance. On another level, it shows the way that urban folk experience digital representations of the natural world. This digitization can take place with photos and videos posted on social media. Google Earth allows viewers can visit scenes of natural or otherwise exotic climes. Finally, video games often occur in hyper accurate landscapes.
Mario Mankey, a Valencia-born artist, creates large-scale installations and murals that feel at once comical and bleak. His recent installation at The Haus in Berlin, titled “Ego Erectus,” is indicative of this. The massive feet, which extend from the ceiling of the room, dwarf viewers and hint at an ever-present burden of humanity.
Nicki Crock is a conceptual artist currently working in Columbus, Ohio, but her head is in the clouds. Her installation series "Dream House" transforms space into an ethereal, geometric floating dreamscape made out of white paper. "A dream house is something to aspire to and long for," she says. "What better form could a daydream take shape in, than with something that we, as humans, already use to fulfill our imaginations: clouds."

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List