The Multiple that Occupies Space Expanded Field Graphics

Abstract

[ES]The conceptual and practical frontiers of art today have been erased due to the triumph of complex thought theories and the incorporation of new technological processes that have led artists to position their creations in interference zones. The formal, technical and conceptual approaches that were previously unitary in graphics have been reformulated in pursuit of art that can be viewed from the actual process of multiplication and multiplexing. Graphics, as we understand it today, is much more hybrid and complex when installed in space. This displacement of the print has raised new questions and induced some answers in relation to the idea of the matrix that generates "multiples". The multiple concept view takes us back to the multi-faceted XXI century, in a mutant invasive loop that colonises the boundaries of the very definitions. The objective of this paper is to reflect on how the classical two-dimensionality of graphics has moved towards the search for a deeper and immersive artistic experience, different from what we have known to date. We will observe how multiple art has evolved from the two-dimensional traditional paper print to the sculptural object and by extension to its installation in space. We start from that inhabited, printed flat space to add other elements to the third dimension that will define our understanding of the new multiple reality: the time element in relation to the experiential perception element of the work of art. Likewise, we will see how graphic artists have occupied different public and private spaces, from practical and conceptual perspectives, and have used the multiple's classic repetition and transformation potential, as a means of contemporary expression to create complex and experimental realities. On the other hand, the medium offered by this new consumption of the multiple, at a visual and formal level, invites us to reflect on the way in which the thought process of the XXI century works. The experience of living in an art installation is diverse, multisensory and completely different from the monofocal contemplation of traditional art. This causes the creation and praxis of graphic art to become both a foundation and a context. In the age of reproducibility, this complex generative condition offered by the systemic thinking of Guattari, Deleuze, Morin or Benjamin has facilitated a new interdisciplinary reality, which together with the spatial and immersive policies of El Lissitzky and Hebert Bayer with their 360o diagram of vision, have culminated in what we call Expanded Field Graphics. Among other phenomena, the conquest of space is the essential step in a sequence fed by hunger for an in- depth knowledge and reflection of the different aspects that surround XXI century graphics. We are interested in what is happening at this border perceived as a two-way permeable membrane. We believe that the expanded and transdisciplinary graphics field opens up different avenues of inquiry to reach new territories and unexplored spaces. It relocates us to a concept of graphics, born in and from space, which demonstrates its potential and versatility while claiming to be a full artistic discipline. This interconnection is proposed as a method for exploring the phenomenon called “the multiple that occupies space”. Now more than ever, the different elements that make up the construction of the so-called “multiple original” from a matrix relate to each other to form a whole entity that speaks about its technical and thought generative processes. Such an approach demonstrates a complex perception of all elements that intervene in the traditional concept of series, and transports us to a primarily plural universe, where the part and the whole dialogue within the same context. Thus, the current idea of repetition and transformation establishes the germ for the new multi-space approach.