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.
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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
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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
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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
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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).
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