Martín Bonadeo

Ficus benjamina is a multisensory intervention at Dacil Gallery. A lens placed in the main window of the gallery, which was darkened for the occasion, turns it into a large pinhole camera. The floor is lined with white fabric for a better viewing of the image. Visitors must enter the scented soundtracked (sound design by Oliverio Duhalde) room bare footed. The projected image corresponds to the tree planted in front of the gallery, a ficus, and its environment. The exhibition takes place during spring, when longer days and higher temperatures favor the spectacular growth of the tree in the short term. Its new leaves are of a lighter green and contrast with the old darker ones. From simple optical processes, and photographic documentation, the process can be observed and contrasted.

This solo show offers poetics circling the thesis/antithesis Heaven/Earth. First, this tension is discussed by flat and Moebius strip shaped route signs. Another sign that says "You're in Heaven" and there is a blue "Stop" sign. Three sets of photographs are presented, one showing Buenos Aires? highest skyscrapers lost in the fog, another called "Eclipse" with intervened sequences of satellite photos explore the shadows casted by these towers and five translucent photographs of the riverside located in the windows, seeking to recover the lost horizon. Two transilluminated pictures of the sky are shown: a small wide-angled image located behind a lens and another in the ceiling that shows a building with all of its floors on sale. Finally, three ancient slide projectors represent different heavens on the ceiling.?Other objects include: two wooden boards with 40 compasses arranged to interfere with each others magnetic fields, three hourglasses disposed in a horizontal way pose timeless horizons, and two sculptures made of a large number of thermometers: interrupted horizon and fleeding horizon. Finally, the installation "The Color of Heaven" features 25 rows of catalog Pantones altered with small lenses that highlight paint names relative to the sky.

The installation "vital fluids" offers an eminently dynamic pictorial representation of life changes involved. In a white cylinder and under an acrylic dome are located 36 red alcohol thermometers. The glass capillaries are arranged radially around a light bulb connected to a sensor. When a visitor approaches the piece, the light turns on, and it begins to emit heat, so the level of red in the thermometer begins to rise. Near it are hanged posters with the words "Attention: Vital Fluids. Too much human presence can destroy them." Within seconds, the lamp goes out and the thermometers lower their levels. Most people ignore the sign or just do not read it and stay in the space for too long. When the heat is excessive, the bulbs burst "bleeding" their content leaving other viewers without the chance to experience this phenomenon. In its outbreak, they stain the surface on which they are located. To maintin the numbers of live thermometers, they periodically replace a disk of white paper (which serves as base) and the broken thermometers, giving continuity to the piece. Stained paper discs by past spectators and broken thermometers are also displayed as evidence of the passage of time.

For the first time ever, Wood Street Galleries hosted Alba Magica MMX, a retrospective of Argentinean installation artist Martin Bonadeo that spans over a decade of his work. Nine of Bonadeo’s installations filled Wood Street Galleries entire exhibition space. Gallery visitors had the opportunity to interact with Bonadeo’s projections, luminal sculptures and electronic objects that explore the ways in which we approach and measure space and time. The following seven installations were on view: real time vanitas, revisits, moebius display, NEWS (it is not), variable horizons, two suns, fused americas, locked up landascapes.

A 7 characters split-flap-type device (such as those used in airports and train terminals in the 70) is located at Telefonica Foundation's main entrance. Each of these modules contains 30 characters including the letters of the alphabet and some punctuation. The board has a total size of about 30 cm. x 7 cm. high. All characters are moved every 1 minutes to stay fixed in a new letter. Only the first and last module will not move but remain always in the same positions, the letter "P" and "O" respectively. The rest of the characters is constantly forming the words "publico" (public) or "privado" (private). This sign is shot and this image is projected from one of the windows to the sidewalk of the Plaza Vicente López (next to the fence). This image has a size of 5 meters wide x 1 m high. The characteristic sound of this technology produced by the board is also amplified and "projected" to the plaza.

"Thermo synthetic grass" in an multi sensory installation which proposes a pictorial three dimensional representation of a dynamic process: growing grass. Over a pedestal, 600 thermometers are presented full of alcohol and green chlorophyll pigment extracted from vegetables. A cycler series controls the turning off/on or day/night of incandescents lamps which are under the thermometers. The thermometer's bulb is in contact with the lamps in a way that the heat produced by the lamps makes the fluid inside the thermometers starts coming up over the capillary, completely filling them for one minute. When the lamps are in action, the luminosity in the hall, the heat and quantity of green in the thermometers are higher. The hall is covered with a roof and works like a greenhouse, retaining the visitor's heat. The fall of temperature get accelerated thank to a few sprays filled with “freshly cut grass”fragrance that are wetting the thermometers bulbs and also scent subtly the hall, increasing the grass reference.
Three dimensional and dynamic painting by martin bonadeo.
I have some time working in representation fields which exceeds the frame and the classic renaissance perspective for one reason: a gesture stays immortalized in one brush stroke which represents a green grass. This form stays static and, I conditions of humidity and stables temperatures, practically unalterable. In this way, the bi dimensional pictorial technique results incomplete to embody a dynamic process like growing grass.
The installation “Thermo synthetic grass” proposes a Three dimensional pictorial representation of this process with one attach: the public has the chance of conserving this “green reserve” or destroying with their presence. It also contains others elements that takes the representation to one more level: liberating freshly cut grass fragrance and the green of the grass is chlorophyll pigment. In this way it results important to emphasize that today anyone can buy green paint to use it having no idea of how to obtain this color, from where it comes and what meanings it can have: the alchemical coloration notion is lost. The chlorophyll is solar energy retained by vegetables, is luminous energy converted in chemical energy with a balanced and natural process: photosynthesis. “Thermo synthetic grass” reflects on the origin of pigmentation and its importance in life origin.

Thermo Synthesis is a series of sculptures done with alcohol thermometers and lamps arranged radially with shapes similar to flowers. This thermometers vary their coloration depending on the ambient temperature that increases when more people is in the exhibition room. The sculptures lamps are also connected to sensors detectors of people presence around activating them self. This lights radiates heat so the thermometers will “fill” as the temperature increases. In some cases the temperature is limited by a thermostat which don't allows the thermometers explode, but in some opportunities there is no thermostat and the spectator is able to see them exploding in their presence, the thermometers “bleeds” their alcohol colored with red acrylic when they can't tolerate the heat any more.
More info: http://www.martinbonadeo.com.ar/mutermo.htm
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khhjy9U0NO0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khhjy9U0NO0&mode=user&search=

An horizon composed with 24 1mx1,30m photographies copied in duraclear (similar to a transparency) located covering the 360 degrees composed by windows giving from the upper floor to an intern patio of IMAGO, the antique Maple furniture store. This skyline that synthesizes the porteño landscape is located 4 meters over the spectator. The composing images of this piece have been taken in different places of Buenos Aires City and represents the city, the fields, the suburbs, the Rio de la Plata river and its banks. This transparent images are melting with the architecture of the building and with other images that belongs to the exhibition depending on the point of view from where they are seen.
More info:http://www.martinbonadeo.com.ar/muhoriz.htm.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2C2lvEhCZg

Moebius display it's an expressive experimental interface development. This device is a LED's (light emitting diodes) screen which presents a spatial and conceptual modification. Instead of being flat as most of the screens, is like a moebius brand, a three dimensional infinite representation. This non euclidean expression space is presented like an alternative output which brings to surface a lot of questions in relation to our way of spatial and visual representation. The idea of seeing a word or image in movement in a three dimensional surface which joins two faces in one expressing a particular ambiguity. This piece allows two contradictories ideas, two poles, two opposite to share the same space.
This piece was realized with the Telefonica Foundation/MAMBA/LIMBO Award to art and new technologies and with a generous OSRAM's opto semiconductors LED's donation.
The next step in this development includes a scale change (20 times larger) and the inclusion of full color LED's pixels. More info: http://www.martinbonadeo.com.ar/mumob.htm
SEE VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWpj3F_fWgA

Group project with Daniel Trama and Paula Senderowicz. In this group installation project realized in El Borde Gallery, three artists: Martin Bonadeo, Paula Senderowicz and Daniel Trama worked together. Each of us took three tables and a space in one of the walls with drawings, sketches, objects and images created with different techniques, representing Revises over past projects. In my case were sketches, pictures and planes of all my previous installations printed in handmade way in paper using the blue-print photography archaic technique. This way each of the tables that I used were raising with different points of view, different problematics that I have already spoke about in others works but this time re processed. Collaborations: Dabiel Trama and Paula Senderowicz – El Borde Gallery.

Piggy bank eyes is a direct capture digital photography series printed in watercolor papers.

The idea for this installation is to cross the security closed circuits of three Art Gallery of Buenos Aires. This places – Ruth Benzacar, Klemm , CCEBA- a located in a less than 100meters ratio. This three spaces are under ground and without windows, while being three very important scenarios of local contemporary art. So the idea was to open a window (T.V.) for them to watch through their neighbor security cam. I thought the circuit in a way that A Gallery sees what is happening in B, and B sees C a C sees A. For the moment, this project wasn't able to be developed for different kind of problems, but it has been exhibited in CCEBA while it waits to be develop.

A poor mechanism composed by 8 mirrors and 4 lenses which were reflecting sky light to the interior of a 50meters pedestrian tunnel. A plant was located in the center of the tunnel. The installation began in the solstice and while time was passing by the sun was reflecting more light to the mirrors. The plant survived.

In the historical Buenos Aires's street of the immigrants a pedestal was located with a transparent moebius band. The band had plotted on it the words IMMIGRANT and ARGENTINIAN. Like a solar clock, this object projects shadows. In the morning you could read the word immigrant and later the argentinian's word shadow..

This project consists in covering the surface of a lighting post which can be found on a sidewalk, in front the Rojas Center, with corn cobs. The hybrid corn cobs will work in a grid like an image pixels that will be transformed when pigeons, people and other species form the urban fauna stats interacting with this surface.

This installation presents four bottles of water from the Pacific Ocean, each with a transparency of a Rio de la Plata dawn. In the opposite wall, projections of a LA sunset on a font of water from the Rio de la Plata. In the center of the hall a compass is “dizzy” because of four electro magnets that are making this compass move constantly round and round. SEE VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7KwCUh86g

A flagpole was located in the center of a hall with a white flag. The floor was divided by three pointed lines. Over every single line a laser was working and every time it was interrupted, it sent a signal to a PC. With every signal, the PC projected a new American flag over the flag. The different flags were superimposing one with each giving a total white because of a luminance addition.

This specific installation for time and space, consisted in a monumental projection of a candle being consumed over one of the external walls of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. As nights going by the candle got consumed till its minimal expression on a 31 of December. This night (New years eve) a hand entered into the frame and lighted a new candle. SEE VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InXtgppiIBQ

On the back wall of a dark hall a 2 meters tall and 1 meter long sand clock is located. The spectator walks to a light focus located toward the back of the room, where a video cam records this spectator in a half frame. The image is projected in real time over the sand clock. As time passes, the sand runs and the projected image fades and loses like rays of light crossing the sand clock's glass.

In the English Tower, flags were located under the clock's quadrants with the legend “The clock is late”. From inside the room, pictures were taken during three months before the exhibition. The images had been copied in 10x15cm transparencies and stuck into the glasses frames of the windows. This way, the past was superimposed with the present. SEE VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl8nwXsVjHY

Holidays snapshots have been used in a urban apartment closed space. Also the bi dimensional images like the multi sensory and three dimensional space chosen to the projection were re signified. The intertwined figure and ground are melted casting doubt on the reality.