The audiovisual installation created by Eugènia Balcells for the Sala Lluís Millet speaks of creation as an energetic dance that manifests itself through lights and colors, just as it happens in the stained glass and on the balustrade of the modernist columns.
Freqüencies
Freqüències is a video art piece created from the luminous spectra of the elements, which, at the Sala Lluís Millet, will be presented uniquely in an intertwined overlay on the walls of the room and on the floor, creating a fabric of light that allows people to immerse themselves in this dance of lights and become part of the work in an immersive way.
The video installation Freqüències is a continuous immersive projection in which the luminous imprints emitted by each element combine with each other, allowing each individual to experience firsthand the atomic vibration of matter. It takes us inside a poetry written in the fundamental alphabet: the matter that shapes the Universe. It allows us to touch the spectral lines and walk among them, observing the partitions between them and thus detecting the most subtle quantum states. In a way, we can affirm that light is the voice of matter.
Homenatge als elements
In Homenatge als elements, two icons of physics and chemistry have been brought together in a single image for the first time: the emission spectra of the elements and the periodic table. Homenatge als elements recognizes the symbolic nature of the Periodic Table by adding the light signature of each element to its chemical description. Homenatge als elements simultaneously celebrates the intrinsic power of light and the invaluable treasure of human knowledge. No other image has the symbolic character of unity in diversity contained in this mural.
The mural Homenatge als elements offers viewers an aesthetic experience that brings them closer to the current understanding of reality, following a well-established tradition in the History of Art, as exemplified by cathedrals spreading knowledge in their time through sculptural portals and paintings.
About the artist
Eugenia Balcells, born in Barcelona in 1943, hailing from a family linked to architecture and ingenuity, began her training in technical architecture in her hometown. With an early interest in ingenious installations related to vision and mathematics, she moved to New York in 1968, continuing her artistic education at the University of Iowa, where she obtained a Master's in Art in 1971. A pioneer in conceptual art and experimental cinema in Spain, Balcells participated in the exhibition "Primera generación. Arte e imagen en movimiento" at the Reina Sofía National Art Museum.
From the seventies onwards, the human being became a central element in her work, exploring themes ranging from the expression of everyday life to the transcendence of human existence. Later, her interest in the universe and matter led her to explore the periodic table of elements as a way to express the visual DNA of the universe. This research translated into works such as "Homenaje a los elementos" (Homage to the Elements) and "Frecuencias" (Frequencies). Her work was recognized with several awards, including the National Visual Arts Award from the Generalitat de Catalunya in 2010 and the Medal of Merit in Fine Arts, gold category, awarded by the king of Spain. In a conversation with Roald Hoffmann, Balcells conceptualized the idea that light is the voice of matter, exploring the profound connections between humanity, the universe, and the matter that shapes us.
Credits
Curatorship
Chiara Curti, Eugènia Balcells Foundation Mercedes Conde, Palau de la Música Catalana
Technical Coordination
Josep Carreras Luis Felipe Ruiz
Press and Communication
Judith Pi
Assembly
imesde
Graphic Image
EGM
GLAM
Insurance
Casablancas, insurance brokerage
Acknowledgments
Fundació Vila Casas
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