Pablo Valbuena (http://www.pablovalbuena.com/)
Pablo Valbuena is a visual artist that works with sculpture / volumetric shapes and projected light. The focus of his work is to alter perception and the way we view things by challenging our traditional perspective. He works with physical objects, light alone, or with both to create a new and interesting dynamic. In an interview with Valbuena, he states that he works with light as if it were a physical material. Since the invention of the camera, art has taken many shapes and forms, but to work with light as if it were a physical material is completely different. Light is not something we can put on a canvas and hang in a gallery; it is not something that we can grasp as a physical object. Therefore, for Valbuena to take this form of energy and create art with it shows that the medium to create art is rapidly expanding and utilizing all aspects of our lives.
The Augmented Sculpture Series located in Medialab-Prado, Madrid:
This series that started in 2007, consists of volumetric shapes that serve as the “static mass”, as Valbuena states, while he uses projected lights on the surfaces to alter the once “static” space and form new shapes. These series of shapes and structures that he uses range from small sculptures in the corners of the room to large masses of blocks that envelop the viewer. Most of these pieces are abstract and don’t have any intentional representative shape. The lights are projected on the surface of these structural shapes, in the corners, or on the edges. Some of the smaller structures are available to stand in front of and view while the larger structures can be viewed from underneath.
Light is how we see and how we construct shapes with our eyes. Playing with light is essentially playing with our own reality. Valbuena casts light on simple structural forms to alter how one perceives a preexisting object and the transformative change these structures undergo. In some cases, the figures appear as though the structures are opening and closing or that they are losing or gaining mass. In a way, the project is very similar to the visual effects used in the movie Tron and it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the movie may have influenced this project. The buildings in the movie Tron are very cubic and formal while light is used to emphasize different areas of the buildings. In addition, the lighting in the movie is also used to reveal and hide spaces or openings much like Valbuena does in this project. Valbuena’s Augmented Sculpture Series is very formal, precise, and mathematical. Conceptually, this can make the viewer wonder what is actually real and what is being altered by the lights themselves. When one can’t tell reality from fabrication, it makes one think about our own world and how we perceive things. What is real and what is not real? If we can’t tell the difference, it changes the way we think and the way we interact with objects or people by altering the very source of our vision. 
This notion of using computers to precisely control and regulate exactly how these lights are projected, where they are projected, how big or how small they are, when to move them and when to keep them stagnant, is digital art at its finest. Humanity is imperfect, therefore the ability for us to grasp this technology of computers and use it to make something perfect, moves beyond what we are capable of without it. Margo Lovejoy states, “They [computers] can generate any kind of imagery or any kind of ‘reality.’” (Lovejoy 152-153) The ability to project these lights flawlessly with a computer in the way that Valbuena has done, essentially alters our reality and confronts what we believe to be real. This invades not only the world of art but even more aspects of our society. While Valbuena is more interested in visual appeal of his work, there is an underlying statement that contests the usage of technology and how it affects our world. Lovejoy comments on this while talking about photography and imagery on the computer, “The computer’s artificial simulations of reality are indistinguishable in appearance from photographs. The capability to invade images and create authenticity through a seamless process of retouching and editing is a destabilization of the image. It has created a crisis of belief which has political implications. We can no longer rely on the old system of ‘truth in images’” (Lovejoy 155). This statement is directed more at photography but has the same application to other uses of other technologies. The “retouching and destabilization” of the image has now moved on to the video industry and we are surrounded with movies that create these alternate realities and fantasies. The crisis Lovejoy speaks of is only expanding with the improvement of the computer and will continue to expand in many different areas of our society.
Judith Fegerl is an artist who works with digital technology such as, lights, electricity, mechanical devices, and more. Her latest work, SELF, was created just last year in 2010. This was an installation located in Vienna, Lower Austria. The work itself is very contemporary and abstract.
“Self” is an art gallery that is, for the most part, completely empty. Throughout the gallery there are places in the walls, floors, ceilings, and structures that have holes in them or have had panels and sections removed. From these voids throughout the gallery one can see the insides or “organs” of the building. There are wires, cables, outlets, light racks, and plugs that are exposed and pulled out of place. All of which are normally concealed and hidden as much as possible, these are now “ripped” out of the wall, hanging from the ceiling, or strewn across the floor. This piece is focused on the conceptual meaning rather than visual pleasure.
It represents the art space as “an architectural and energy producing shell for art objects.” It is representative of the human being. Like the veins of our bodies, these wires are torn out to expose the inner workings of the art space. Like our bodies there is a lot that goes on inside that allow us to function properly, yet we are unaware of its function and complexities. This is a representation of that exact concept. The art gallery is exposing the inner machine that most viewers are oblivious to and is normally hidden. The media used to create this work is the gallery itself, which can be quite unorthodox in the sense that the display space is now becoming the art rather than presenting it. This can be somewhat related to the outburst in female video artist such as Ulrike Rosenbach, that started in the late 20th century. 
The medium had changed and now the artist was becoming the art; women were objectifying their bodies and taking over this new medium to make it their own. In that same manner, Fergerl is objectifying the art gallery making it something that people actually look at instead of ignoring.
These two artists create their work in very different ways. Valbuena’s sculpture series uses projected lights to create an altered reality with an emphasis on visual appeal and transformation as an illusory creation. In contrast, Fergerl’s project “SELF” is created with a deeper conceptual meaning behind it. Both of these artists use the accessible technology of our world today. Valbuena uses it to project lights and Fergerl simply rips the very technology that runs the show out of the walls and ceilings. If one were to see both of these projects Valbuena’s sculpture series would most likely be the more attractive one at first because of the mere fact that we as human-beings are attracted to lights. This is all based on one’s own opinion of art and what is more appealing to them; however, the majority of people are attracted to works like Valbuena’s. This is not to say that one piece is better than the other; it is a matter of one’s own opinion. If one were to look more closely at Fergerl’s work it would show that she has created her work with a conceptual and purposeful meaning behind it. In the digital world one can recognize that both of these works are based solely by the use of technology in one form or another. While Valbuena uses it to assist in his creation of art, Fergerl exposes it like it is a work of art itself. In a sense, Fergerl is glorifying the technology we use by putting it on display for people to see. This is not typical of an artist to do. She is exposing the very machine that many people hide so it will not distract from their art being displayed. Valbuena does the exact opposite of what she has done. All the lights and projectors used in his artwork are all hidden and out of place so that the focus is on the lighted structures. This brings to question whether or not technology is really art in itself. Lovejoy commented on this when Walter Benjamin talked about the camera being destructive to art. Lovejoy said, “Photography and cinematography created what Benjamin called ‘a shattering of tradition,’ a crisis in representation without fundamentally shifting the Western paradigm of art. However, digital simulation has finally shattered the paradigm of representation we have been operating under since the Renaissance. We are now, in many ways, living in a new world” (Lovejoy 4). Lovejoy is exactly right when it comes to this issue. We are now living in a world where anything can be art and anyone that has the creativity to make something new can display it as a beautiful piece of work. Whether it is the technology creating the art or the technology that runs the art, in our digital world pieces like Valbuena’s and Fergerl’s are very intriguing and important to the development of the art world.
