Manu Arregui, Santander, 1970.
Pioneer in the application of 3D animation to his work, Manu Arregui's work focuses on reflection on body policies and the commitment to "non-normative" identities.Always from a critical questioning, his pieces, full of lyricism, fuse virtuosity and experimentation. At the same time, without neglecting irony, the artist analyzes the progressive virtualization of our lives and the future of art in this post-contemporary era.
He has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Basque Country. His works have been included in important exhibitions such as Trans-sexual Express International curated by Xabier Arakistain and Rosa Martínez, Bad Boys project by Agustín Pérez Rubio made on the occasion of the 50th Venice Biennale, Single Channel Video: 1996-2002 curated by Juan Antonio Álvarez -Reyes and Berta Sichel for the National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center, Animated Sessions project by Juan Antonio Álvarez-Reyes for the same museum and the Atlantic Center for Modern Art in Las Palmas, Chacun à son Goût curated by Rosa Martínez for the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Spanish Art 1957-2007 at the Palazzo Sant’Elia in Palermo.
He has participated in important international fairs of Contemporary Art such as ARCO (Madrid), ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH (Miami), or FRIEZE (London). In 2002 he obtained the Plastic Arts Scholarship from the Marcelino Botín Foundation, with which he completed his training at the ISCP in New York. In 2004 he won the First Prize for Video Creation and Digital Formats Caixa Galicia and in 2007 the Altadis Prize for Visual Arts. His work is represented, among others, in the collections of the ARTIUM museums in Vitoria, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the MUSAC in León and the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum in Madrid.
His work “Ejercicios de medición sobre el movimiento amanerado de las manos” won the 9th edition of the ARCO-BEEP Electronic Art Award
Work at the collection: Ejercicios de medición sobre el movimiento amanerado de las manos
Ejercicios de medición sobre el movimiento amanerado de las manos, 2014
This video of 6’30” duration that uses time, passing in a linear way, to give form to an investigation into codes and connotations linked to gestures.
Using as a starting point a recording of hands of various professional dancers in movement and an example of 3D modelling software to replicate those movements and obtain the corresponding positioning and rotation data, the piece uses the theme of dance to reflect upon topics such as the phobia of effeminacy and masculinisation.
