Federico Díaz
Biography
Díaz (b. 1971) is a Prague-born artist of Argentinian descent and one of the most prominent Czech artists of his generation. Since the 1990s, Díaz has been using state-of-the-art technology to reveal forces and patterns that are elusive through human senses but fundamental to how we experience the world.
In 1999, he presented an autonomous anthropomorphic augmented structure, Mnemeg, that responded directly to the gallery audience. These experiments with smart algorithms laid the foundations for later, more complex works, namely Geometric Death Frequency-141 (2010) for MASS MoCA and Outside Itself (2011) for the Venice Biennale. Both were based on the principle of art being conceived with a pre-programmed formulation of parameters without the touch of the human hand. The resulting sculptures were independently created by robots using pre-determined materials. These robot-centred installations were one of the starting points of Díaz and Ledgard’s conversations about AI and, eventually, the BOAR performance.
In 2013, Díaz started experiments with robotic algorithmic paintings based on the movement patterns of the audience. The resulting exhibition was shown at CAFA Museum Beijing. His long-term series of immersive robotic installations, BIG LIGHT, have been presented across Europe. The project explores themes of the relationship between nature, humankind and conscious machines. In 2020 and 2021, he finished two permanent public sculptures made using a technique of robotic fabrication with concrete. In addition to the above, Díaz has exhibited at the Mori Art Museum Tokyo, ICA London, ZKM Karlsruhe, Ars Electronica, and Art Basel Miami (with MoMA PS1).