2008-2011
Video documentary of the organism living in a contaminated river.
Gilberto Esparza
Plantas Nómadas: A species made up of a group of organisms living in symbiosis in order to survive in habitats affected by human activity.
Nomadic Plants is a metaphor for the alienated human condition and the impact its activity has on nature. The work is ongoing experimentation hoping to instigate critical reflections on the ambiguity of the force wielded by technology. The work includes a small automaton robot (nomadic plant) that moves towards water when its bacteria require nourishment. It contains vegetation and microorganisms living symbiotically inside the body of the machine. The robot draws water from a contaminated river, decomposes its elements, helps to create energy to feed its brain circuits and the surplus is then used to create life, maintaining plants that, at once, fulfill their own life cycle. The installation is also composed of a video of the process of creation of the nomadic plant, a documentary filmed by the artist when the robot acted in the river Santiago, El Salto, Jalisco (Mexico), the images taken by the artist and the project’s webpage.
Artist bio:
Gilberto Esparza was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico in 1975. BFA by the University of Guanajuato and MFA by the Politecnic University in Valencia, Spain. His work involves electronic media, recycling of consumption technology, biotechnology.
His work has been shown in several countries including Electronic Art Festival VideoBrasil (Brasil), Lascas Festival: an actual Mexican art in Québec (Canada), Internacional Workshop Km0 (Bolivia), Internacional Electronic Arts and Video Festival Transitio_Mx 2005 (Mexico), Trienal de Puebla PLATAFORMA 06 (Mexico), Laboratorio de Arte Alameda (Mexico), The Carrillo Gil Museum (Mexico), MUCA Roma (University Museum of Sciences and Arts, Mexico).
He was supported by VIDA 9.0: New Productions Award Sponsored by the Telefónica Foundation (Spain). Also for the Program Support for the Art and Media Production and Research of Multimedia Center of the Nacional Art Center (Mexico). Recently his work Plantas Nómadas won second VIDA 13.0 award supported by Telefónica Foundation (Spain).
