Federico Díaz

Federico Díaz is a conceptual and multimedia artist who is one of the pioneers in the use of new media in art, and is one of the most distinctive artists in this field. Since 1994 he has led a team of programmers, architects and designers called E-Area.

After graduating from Václav Hollar Art College, he commenced his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 1990. Here, he attended studios led by Aleš Veselý, Stanislav Kolíbal and Karel Malich. He also participated in a study placement with Marian Karel at the Academy of Architecture, Arts and Design in Prague and at the Soros Center for Contemporary Art in Paris. During his studies, he abandoned traditional art techniques – painting, drawing and sculpture and immersed himself in the world of new media and modern technology. Between 2007 and 2014, he led the Studio of Super-media at the Academy of Architecture, Arts and Design in Prague.

Díaz´s reflections concern, above all, human beings and their relationship with the world in today´s digital and dehumanized age. He deals with the relationship between the artificial and the natural, and attempts to materialize entities such as light, movement and energy, important for the senses of human beings. With the use of multimedia installations he reflects the possibilities for engaging the spectator in the artistic process. In his interactive projects he applies the most modern software technology with which he investigates the ambivalence of human beings´ understanding of the relationship between reality and virtual reality, and consequently, human beings´ capability to orientate themselves in such an environment. His artwork is created on the understanding that art is conceived without being touched by the human hand. With the help of computer programs he transforms quantities intangible or invisible to the naked eye – human voice, feelings and emotions, movement and amount of sunlight photons – into objects created by software-controlled, robotic devices. His resulting spatial objects, which acknowledge the prefabricated artificiality of their construction process, reflect the dehumanizing aspect of the present-day reality of human life. On the other hand, he is also trying to reveal things to us which we have ceased or are ceasing to notice due to the influence of technological overload. Paradoxically, and at the same time utterly logically, it is precisely that same technology that is being used to reveal those losses which are separating us from our substance.

2003–2004
Sembion

2009
Adheze (Adhesion)

2010
Geometric Death Frequency-141

2010
LacrimAu

2011
Outside Itself