ALBERTO ECHEGARAY GUEVARA
Alberto Echegaray Guevara, the only Latin American artist selected for the 58th Biennale de Venezia by the European Cultural Centre. My artistic practice is tied to the hidden influence of the global monetary systems, and the effect of consumerism on spiritual values. I have produced site specific sculptures, video-art installations and collages that examine and deconstruct the relationship between society and money.
Moneyball- Project
All inhabitants of our planet come into contact with the dollar (Euro). As the world’s best-known currency and symbol of economic stability, the dollar goes through the hands of beggars, workers, artists, children, students, elders, priests, politicians and businessmen. The dollar represents the obtainment of the elements we consider necessary for a happy life: food that feeds us, the clothing we wear, education, health, gifts, travel, and marriage.
We work every day towards financial stability, and all of the world’s most impressive innovations have been achieved through the transfer of money. We created the value behind the dollar, and just as we created it, so can we destroy it.
THE CONCEPT
The value we have given money is abstract, but contains an energetic force similar to kinetic and atomic energy, electricity, and heat. In all forms of energy, balance is the key. Traditional chinese medicine asserts that insufficient chi in the body results in discomfort, and in modern culture, we experience the inadequacy of money as a similar condition. Lack of financial power often becomes a source of stress, but in reality, we have the choice to
manipulate money’s role in our lives. Just as too much concentration of chi leads to an unhealthy body and spirit, infatuation with money and material wealth can destroy lives and families. Money is only energy. How you handle it is up to you, but the key is to decide consciously.
MONEY AS ENERGY
THE SPHERE AS A SYMBOL OF THE INFINITE
A perfect sphere is a symbol of totality, uniformity, concurrency, and original perfection. It is eternal, and has no beginning and no end. Alain of Lille once said, “God is an intelligible sphere, whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere.” In this sense, the circular shape of the sphere represents the eternal “now” in which we exist, and a concept of perfection that we chase through the accumulation of monetary wealth.
ARTWORKS
CRYPTO SPHERE, 2018
Flexible HD Screen, Internet connected. Sphere Titanium capsule containing private keys of 250 Bitcoins (equivalent to One Million US Dollars). Application development software . Live online ticker connected to the internet and 4G network. 50 cm diameter sphere, Blown glass Murano.
As a media artist, designer and spatial thinker, Alberto is intrigued by the ways in which the evolution of contemporary culture requires us to create a new aesthetic, technique and dynamic perception of monetary systems and human values. Alberto builds his works with a focus on the nomadic subject’s reaction to and interactions with unconventional materials and spatial orientations. Embedding money (symbols of power) into media arts and architecture, he contemplates the possibility of a post-digital, architectural future in which there are no more non-digital realities.
Pinocchio
An Artwork about Lies and Corruption
EX NIHILO . CONFLICT AND CREATION
Bronze Base. Delicate patina coating L180 cm x H 130cm x D26 cm Built in Germany. 90 Kg
LE DICTATEUR , 2016
Authentic US Dollars, destroyed Murano Blown Glass & Screws, Blood 50 cmt (H)
