Spuma, the first results of the study of human relations in the Global Contemporaneity
Foam as a metaphor for global society
Our existence is closely associated with inhabiting, physically or metaphorically, within spherical spaces. Already from the fetal period, when we remain floating in the amniotic sac, we are protected in protective spaces similar to bubbles or bubbles. Our childhood will be marked by our experiences within the intimate sphere of the family, in a space delimited by the experiences of its members. As we grow up, the structures will be extended to the neighborhood, the neighborhood, the town or the city. Within these spheres we shield ourselves from the outside, from the outside, elaborating and sharing both physical and subjective spaces. Our tastes, languages, beliefs or professions delimit the space in which we find ourselves. We owe the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk the suggestion to analyze humanity from this interesting point of view.
By extension, once we have taken the sphere as a representation of human relationships and affinities, the foam is a metaphor for global society. The foam is the result of the sum of numerous spheres or bubbles. Nowadays, the Internet favors the creation of new bubbles, since thanks to digital connection and mobility, new links and subjectivities are being generated. Numerous bubbles emerge and relate to each other, intertwining and interacting on new scales and rules. In the evanescent foam, bubbles are clustered together, expanding, sliding and bursting frantically. The global foam shows its form in a constant and fragile fluidity due to the numerous spheres that inhabit it, while lacking a visible center. Where everything is center, no true center is revealed.
Inserted in the constantly flowing foam, the inhabitants ask themselves questions about their place in the global society and about the future of the system. The old question, Who am I, is replaced by a new question: Where am I?
The foam does not stop advancing. New bubbles appear modeling the successive spaces of relationship. Inevitably, when imagining society as a foam, we ask ourselves what is the place of art in that scenario. Art anticipates and elaborates languages that influence the sensibility of society, sudden turns that were not foreseen. The unprecedented forms of linguistic, plastic or musical expression emerge and transform the perception of the world.
In the series Spuma (2021), images have been created from foam fluids. The shapes of the foams are the result of patterns elaborated as a result of the analysis of the current complexity by means of digital data reading tools. On top of the foamy compositions, suggestive strokes have been incorporated that whimsically cross the bubbles to add visual narratives. The lines and shapes, incorporated using traditional techniques, gently fade over the surface to accentuate the ephemeral character.
Two ways of reflecting on human relationships merge on the same plane. On the one hand, thanks to the result of the analysis of various mass data on global society, complex and hypnotic cartographies have been elaborated with foamy forms in which an internal order is evident in the arrangement of the bubbles. While, in a complementary way to reflect on the elusive essence of human creativity, poetic strokes have been added based on traditional pictorial techniques that are diluted and lost on the foamy fluids. In the compositions reigns an atmosphere of liquid fluidity that has been reinforced by a layer of glitter, which simulates the screen of digital devices. But the screen succumbs and is pierced by numerous small bubbles emanating from the depths of the image.
