THE ART AND SCIENCE OF SIGMAN AND SARDÓN, AT OFF ELBA BENÍTEZ
By Álvaro de Benito
OFF Galería Elba Benítez, the complementary space of the historic Madrid gallery, hosts The History of the Eye, a project that merges science and art by Mariano Sigman (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1972) and Mariano Sardón (Bahía Blanca, Argentina, 1968). The exhibition is structured around extensive research into the perceptual processes that shape visual reality. Both artists, with solid scientific backgrounds in physics and neuroscience, have explored the mechanisms through which the brain transforms light stimuli into images and the influence of memory on visual experience.
Sardón and Sigman delve into a narrative in which vision becomes instrumental —a tool that constructs ephemeral memories and can be translated into data. On this premise, the records from their study have been transcribed into codes that enable visual compositions built from chromatic and formal structures. Once transferred onto canvas, linen, paper, or digital systems, the resulting works emphasize the transient nature of the image within the human visual process.
Their joint research dates back several decades, focusing on the significance of perception and cognition in shaping the material world around us. The exhibition transforms ocular movements into aesthetic matter. Through distinct visual approaches, the dialogue between contours, the arrangement of elements, and the translation of technical parameters employed in each piece advance toward a new form of “metavision”—a portrait or form perceived through the very act of seeing.
-
Mariano Sigman y Mariano Sardón. Intromisión 3 40 clásicos del cine OFF Galería Elba Benítez, Madrid, España, 2025 © Mariano Sigman, Mariano Sardón y Galería Elba Benítez
-
Mariano Sigman y Mariano Sardón. Las constelaciones de Ji-Eun, OFF Galería Elba Benítez, Madrid, España, 2025 © Mariano Sigman, Mariano Sardón y Galería Elba Benítez
-
Mariano Sigman y Mariano Sardón. Vista general de la exposición La historia del ojo, OFF Galería Elba Benítez, Madrid, España, 2025 © Mariano Sigman, Mariano Sardón y Galería Elba Benítez
-
Mariano Sigman y Mariano Sardón. Vista general de la exposición La historia del ojo, OFF Galería Elba Benítez, Madrid, España, 2025 © Mariano Sigman, Mariano Sardón y Galería Elba Benítez
We see through ourselves, yet we are also capable of observing how others see. Each data landscape that emerges from the works on display constitutes a subjective and personal representation of multiple universes. The History of the Eye thus invites viewers to reconsider the concept of reality as something absolute and homogeneous, redirecting its analysis toward a phenomenon that is continually constructed and transformed through perception.
The History of the Eye can be visited until November 29 at OFF Galería Elba Benítez, Belén 2, Madrid (Spain).
May interest you
ÓSCAR ABRAHAM PABÓN: THOUGHT AND MATTER, AT FERNANDO PRADILLA
RAUSCHENBERG’S PHOTOGRAPHIC APPROACH AND LATIN AMERICAN ROCI SERIES, AT JUAN MARCH FOUNDATION
By Álvaro de Benito
The Juan March Foundation in Madrid presents an extensive and analytical exhibition on Robert Rauschenberg (Port Arthur, USA, 1925–Captiva, USA, 2008), focusing on the use of image and photography in his work. The exhibition, structured from a novel curatorial perspective, reinterprets the production of one of the great masters of contemporary art, highlighting it as the outcome of an essentially photographic practice.
THE LATEST EVOLUTION OF BLACK MIRROR / ESPEJO NEGRO BY LASCH, AT CASA DE MÉXICO
By Álvaro de Benito
The Fundación Casa de México in Spain hosts Re/Generación, a new installation from the Black Mirror / Espejo Negro series produced by Pedro Lasch (Mexico City, Mexico, 1975) and curated by the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH). Originating from an initiative originally produced by the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham, North Carolina, in 2007, the series has been transformed through various techniques, evolving its language toward a narrative that makes it impossible to separate past and present, as well as spectator and proposal.
MARCELLE, BASUALDO, AND PRIETO INCLUDED IN CONCEPTUAL EXHIBITION AT COLLEGIUM
By Álvaro de Benito
Collegium is hosting at its headquarters in the Castilian town of Arévalo the exhibition Jaque. Poder, tiempo e imagen en estado de juego (Check. Power, Time, and Image in a State of Play), a conceptual show that stems from the relationship between chess and the Torre de los Ajedreces, part of the Romanesque-Mudejar style Church of San Martín, which currently serves as the institution’s main headquarters. The building, dating from the 11th and 12th centuries, features an unusual brick frieze in a checkerboard pattern that evokes the chessboard and the strategic dimension of the game.
GUGGENHEIM BILBAO RECLAIMS THE FIGURE OF VIEIRA DA SILVA
By Álvaro de Benito
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao presents Anatomy of Space, an extensive exhibition dedicated to Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (Lisbon, Portugal, 1908 – Paris, France, 1992), which primarily encompasses her production from the 1930s through the 1980s. The exhibition is structured around two fundamental axes: architecture and the architectural landscape as compositional frameworks, and memory as the generator of the image.
