INTANGIBLES: An art exhibition... without works of art?

The exhibition is made up of nine technological installations that use different techniques. It can be visited at the Telefónica Foundation in Madrid until February 23, 2020.

Nothing replaces the brush, the stroke of the brush, the chisel and the burin or the exact moment when the shutter captures a moment of perfection. OK, we all agree. But we are in the 21st century and that means there will be certain changes. It is not the same to see the Sistine Chapel from the inside than from Wikipedia, although wouldn't you like to be able to look face to face at God in Michelangelo's painting as if you were Adam in the fresco? Or press a Mondrian? Or see the folds that Maria de Lempicka painted in three dimensions? Of course, it can be exciting. There are new experiences that combine the known plastic reality with something similar to the future. That is INTANGIBLES , an exhibition without physical, palpable works, but where you can enjoy René Magritte or Juan Gris.

This innovative exhibition seeks, above all, to be experimental, both in its approach and in the idea of ​​creating a whole experience for the visitor. This is called design thinking , but if you don't want to, don't call it that. As a play on words, the latter is all very well, but let's not rush things, because 'Intangibles', which can be visited on the third floor of Espacio Fundación Telefónica in Madrid until 23 February 2020, is based on works from the company's own collection. Wait : so, where is the innovation? The format, always the format.

Virtual reality (VR), photogrammetry, video mapping, 3D, software development, image analysis technology and digital painting are some of the techniques used and many of the jargon that visitors will encounter. Basically, it is a crazy reinterpretation of great names in recent art history such as Eduardo Chillida, María Blanchard, Antoni Tàpies, Joaquín Torres García, Roberto Matta, Paul Delvaux and the aforementioned Gris and Magritte.

In fact, no one should be shy, because the exhibition aims to make the visitor enter into a Chillida sculpture, play with the cubism of Gris or Blanchard or paint automatically like Matta. 'Intangibles' seeks to make one reflect on the absolute technological advance with no turning back that we have experienced for some time now. This is said a lot, it was also said in the Industrial Revolution, but it is given a vote of confidence, especially because it brings more novelties, such as the fact that it will be a global exhibition. And when we say global we mean from a huge number of places.

But not as a tour, but in real time, since, in addition to the Spanish capital, the exhibition will be shown simultaneously in Mexico City, Lima, Bogotá, Quito, Mar del Plata, Santiago de Chile and Montevideo. This way of playing with artistic space-time is reinforced by the use of the Intangible World Map, designed specifically for the occasion and which will allow the experiences to be linked, comments to be combined and the sensations to be shared by the various audiences who visit any of the eight exhibitions, whether in Spain or Latin America.

In short: rather than an art exhibition without works of art, let's say that they are not what comes to mind when you think of a work of art. Classical forms of culture cannot disappear because they are part of everyday life and will end up coexisting with technology without taking up space. Because isn't art in continuous evolution and seeking new methods of surprise? Will we ever get used to considering the digital format as valid as canvas or marble? Will this article end with a rhetorical question?