Durango, 1976.
Marcela Armas
She is currently researching the magnetic properties of minerals and their potential to store information through sound as a medium of interpretation and induction. Her work weaves together disciplines, techniques, working processes, and research to explore society’s relationships with matter, energy, space-time, and the construction of memory.
She has participated in the Mercosur Biennial in Porto Alegre (2009) and in the 11th Havana Biennial “Social Practices and Imaginaries” (2012). Together with Gilberto Esparza, she has led experimental electronics workshops for Fundación Telefónica VIDA 10 in Lima, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, and Mexico City. More recently, she directed Implant, a public-space artistic project based in Denver and Mexico City, developed for the Biennial of the Americas. Armas is part of the Triodo collective with Gilberto Esparza and Iván Puig. Alongside Arcángelo Constantini, she directs the sound art series Meditatio Sonus.
Her work “Máquina Stella” won the 7th edition of the ARCO-BEEP Electronic Art Award.
Work in the collection: Máquina Stella
https://www.marcelaarmas.net/
Máquina Stella, 2011
“Máquina Stella” is a dodecahedron-shaped sculpture whose interconnected parts receive an electrical charge depending on which part demands greater power. The impossibility of achieving a perfect distribution of energy leads to a partial collapse.
“Ultimately, the piece is a metaphor for the unequal distribution of wealth in our society, starting from an abstract artistic reflection on the distribution of energy,” says Armas. She adds: “For me, machines in general are far more vulnerable devices than they appear.” The artist explains that she has created a system that metaphorically demonstrates the unsustainability of contemporary society. “Máquina Stella” is a sculpture that, by its very nature, constantly seeks a dynamic balance after collecting electrical energy and distributing it through a system of resistive filaments.