In David Ferrando Giraut’s first exhibition at Luis Adelantado—entitled La part maudite—, the artist resumes his research into the relationship between technological development and history. Throughout his career, he has brought to light the possible tensions between science and nature and how they materialise in our visual culture.
La part maudite refers to the title of the book published in 1949 by French anthropologist George Bataille. In it he argues that the economy is based on the squandering of goods rather than in their production. This wastage leads to the excessive exploitation of natural resources and thus their depletion, while implementing alienating working conditions. Therefore, that cursed part he refers to is the human tendency towards the squandering and excess whose ultimate aim is self-destruction.
The excessive extraction of resources has been applied to the production of portrayals of power. If we situate ourselves in the current scenario, in spite of the apparent immateriality of pictures in the digital age, their production is also carried out in a parasitic way, since they are generated by technological means which have been manufactured from the exploitation of natural resources. This is the setting which David Ferrando Giraut examines: immaterial waste and its environmental impact as a result of the symbiosis generated between nature and science.
About the artist
David Ferrando Giraut (Negreira, A Coruña, 1978) graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the Valencia Fine Arts University and a Masters in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College, London. He has been awarded grants including the Second Production Grant LABoral / DKV Seguros – Álvarez Margaride (2014) and the Bursary for Videoart creation, BBVA Foundation (2014). He has exhibited in Notas para una genealogía de la imagen mineral, Centro Párraga (2016), Vórtice; ARTBO Proyectos, Bogotá (2015) and has also participated in group exhibitions such as Some Astronomers Kept a Distance, Salón (2016).