“ If consciousness can enter into dialogical relations of recognition, the body, by virtue of its finitude, is always already inscribed in relations of continuity. [...] In bodily life, the other is always already inscribed in my very world .”

A Common World, Marina Garcés

The "we" connection has become the greatest enemy of modern society. It exposes us, makes us uncomfortable, and naturally transforms us into implicated subjects and, consequently, into beings exposed to the environment we inhabit. In response, we increasingly seek refuge in universes that evade us from a greater awareness of the collective, from which we can approach our own experiences as they truly are: shared and binding.

Through technology, Berlin-based Madrid artist Efrén Mur seamlessly blends creativity, programming, and hardware , creating an audiovisual journey where body, emotion, and interaction form the core of It from bit . An audiovisual installation whose purpose is to become a visual reflection of human relationships, understood from their interdependence. A space where the flows of perception and consciousness are explored, as well as their influence on experienced reality. Not as an individual thing but as a collective, where multisensoriality reaches every corner.

The exhibition combines two realities: an exhibition area, where five digital works by the artist Efrén Mur showcase the artist's conceptual and professional career, and an interactive area, whose real-time digital work bears the exhibition's name: It from bit . To bring this work to life, the room has been equipped with motion sensors, whose function is to capture information about the audience's emotional state, as well as observation and circulation flows, in order to subsequently convert this data into parameters of light, sound, and visual patterns that make up the central work of the space.

Based on the idea of physicist John Archibald Wheeler, It from Bit proposes binary information as a starting point for understanding visual interactions and their contribution to the environment. The observer doesn't play a passive role but an active one. Their very presence modifies what revolves around us and is, therefore, a catalyst in the transformation and evolution of the work (the work understood as reality itself). Thus, the figure of the observer transmutes into the figure of the observed and vice versa, generating a constant and infinite role reversal in the collective experience.

It from bit : the work
Nothing is predefined. Each visitor has the ability to create a unique impact thanks to their involvement in the environment. The compositional elements of the central work respond to the human interactions occurring within the same shared space, allowing for the work's continuous growth. As visitors circulate through the installation, their presence and interaction generate a series of data points that are collected and processed in real time by generative algorithms, to be translated into real-time visual and audio stimuli. Therefore, the central work persists ephemerally and "infinitely" thanks to its ability to continue expanding and modifying, which creates direct feedback with the human interactions occurring within the same space-time. As for the soundtrack, the sound is constructed and evolves hand in hand with human participation, generating an immersive sound code that is difficult to replicate.

In It from bit , Efrén Mur reflects the tension between the processes of individual introspection of the human being and collective thought, highlighting through the physical participation of the attendees, the interpretative subjectivity of our reality, which never ceases to be collectively shared.

Efrén Mur's independent pieces, collaborations carried out throughout his professional career with various artists, immerse us in atypical digital universes and address the exploratory creation of new convergent realities, whose immersive capacity transports us to universes as sensorial as they are psychological.

The pieces Continuum (2022) and Mirror of the Mind (2022) are works by digital visual artist Krista Kim. The former is part of a series developed by Kim over decades of her professional career as an artist; the latter is a creation made exclusively in collaboration with Efrén Mur. Following the creative lines of both artists, these works seek to create meditative experiences through digital technology. Her approach explores how art can be a channel for mindfulness, designing immersive visual and sound spaces that invite viewers to connect with their breathing and increase awareness of their body and mind. Incorporating Ligovskoï's sound design, based on healing frequencies, Kim establishes her concept of "Zen for the digital age," integrating art, design, and technology to bring meditation and calm into everyday life.

The artist's relationship with electronic music has been very close and constant over the years. Efrén Mur thus creates, together with Argentine sound designer Jonas Kopp, the piece Laguna Piedra (2021). A project conceptualized and inspired by nature, from which they achieve a quantum connection with different phenomena of our natural geography, such as deserts, mountains, oceans, waterfalls, and many others that have existed since ancient times. Resources from our biosphere end up becoming a source of inspiration to merge technology and nature. A work conceived from the beginning of its programming to help deconstruct negative emotional and mental patterns that we harbor in our brains.

Created in 2020, Dualidad is a 32:40 short film created by Efrén Mur based on his visual interpretation of Reeko's original album, "Dualidad." It features a soundtrack meticulously adapted and mixed for this visual narrative.

Chaos, destruction, vibration, movement. Futura A1E5 (2019) is an audiovisual piece by the artist that achieves visual harmony in the reproduction of mutating synthetic forms. Materialized primarily in three primary colors, the work advances by posing the superposition of shapes, seeking to convey to the viewer a feeling of madness that gradually amplifies to the beat of the symphony of quantum probabilities represented.

Ultimately conceived as a symbiotic experience, It from Bit is an active, constantly feedback loop of individual and collective actions that can alter our reality, moving from the unconscious to the collective conscious, in the here and now. This is how artist Efrén Mur demonstrates our potential for unity, where the collective harbors a transformative capacity simply through the act of being present. He thus locates, in this random dynamic of receiving and projecting digital information, the chaos and harmony of human social dynamics. A latent and mutating work where repetition and variability are reflected as parallels to every aspect of life, our personal development and growth, as well as our strengths. Each viewer possesses the capacity to generate a totally unique impact, and yet, it is in this compilation of "individual values" and their sum and continuity as a whole that we unleash our true potential as a collective.


By Romina Llaguno

Date: From December 5, 2024 to March 9, 2025

Location: Warehouse 0, Madrid Slaughterhouse

Organized by: Matadero de Madrid

Exhibition assembly: Light Project SL Productions

ARTWORKS

It from bit (2024)
Efrén Mur
Sound design: Black Konrad
Technical Director: Stephen Bontly

Continuum (2022)
By Krista Kim in collaboration with Efrén Mur
Sound design: Ligovskoï

Mirror of the Mind (2022)
Krista Kim in collaboration with Efrén Mur
Sound design: Ligovskoï

Laguna Piedra (2021)
Efrén Mur
Sound design: Jonas Kopp

Duality (2020)
Efrén Mur
Sound design: Reeko

Futura A1E5 (2019)
Efrén Mur
Sound design: Dinamite