“2.3/seg” is the first project Alejandro showed us, which studies the death and birth rates of the human race around the world. The question posed was how often are people born and how often do they die? Alejandro underlined that he was not so interested in the accuracy, but more in the concept of this.
The results showed that 4 people are born and 2 people die every second, resulting in 2 new people on the planet per second. The data used to generate this project was collected through the World Census Bureau, and conceptually inspired by the work of Jagadish Chandra Bos, and in particular his invention of the Creschograph, a technology that allows a person to see a plant grow in real time.
“The laboratory to explore the birth of ideas” was a complex technology inspired by his father, who taught him how to generate electricity.
Alejandro then went on to explain how another of his projects was inspired by a dream in which fruit communicated…”hello world”. Would it be possible to make a computer out of fruit? An organic computer?
He then started working with ph levels present in fruit to generate a binary system, starting with the use of lemon and tangerine. This makes us reflect on how we create technology, questioning its historical generator, that is for attack or defence mechanisms…this could be a poetic way to create technology!
The fourth and final project showed was inspired by an image of the northern lights, a sort of connection between magic and nature. But what are these northern lights, and how are they created?
These are a consequence of solar explosions, the earth is therefore a natural sensor of these explosions. Alejandro wanted to find a way to get connected with them, a poetic way of depicting these explosions. He created a system that would turn the energy of these explosions into data, and in return transformed this data first into fire (a natural phenomenon becomes data to then rebecome a natural phenomenon), and then in later versions of this projects into explosions using gun powder. This was called “8 minutes (when the sun explodes we explode)”.
Finally, sometime was spent discussing the workshop underway with the MAI students, “white box” that aims to break the concept of technology as a black box, rendering technology more open and accessible, that is white, allowing us to experience the poetic, nature and magic of technology in everyday life.

Alejandro Tamayo at the IaaC

Lecture “Technology: between magic and everyday life“

Alejandro Tamayo is an artist, researcher and teacher working in the intersections between artistic practice, science, technology and everyday life. He has been a tutor at Medialab Prado interactivos? workshops including Technologies of Laughter (Mexico) and Neighborhood Science (Madrid) and has teaching for over eight years at various art and design schools in Colombia including the Art Department from Los Andes University and the School of Fine Arts from the National University. He has been a guest speaker in various venues including Pixelache University-Reinventing the Teaching Situation (Helsinki), CIANT gallery (Prague), and the International Image Festival (Colombia).

His work has been shown, among other places, in:
- “In-out”. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Barcelona, (Barcelona. Spain)
- “Herejías”. Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (Canarias, Spain)
- In different OVNI exhibitions at the Centro de Cultura de Barcelona, (Barcelona, Spain)
- “Artist in Residence Program”. Banff Center of the Arts (Canada)
- “Singular Electrics ”. Fundació Miró, ESPAI-13, (Barcelona. Spain)
- “Works” .80 Washington Square East Galleries (New York. USA)
- “Cyberia 02”. Fundación Marcelo Botín (Santander. Spain)
- “Ciclo de autores de video”. Centro de Arte Santa Mónica (Barcelona, Spain)
- “Scratch”. Centre Wallonie Bruxelles (Paris, France)
- “Forum de l´Image” (Tolouse, France)
- “Open Show in Physical Computing”. Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York University (New York, USA).

He has received grants from the Video and Cinematography Department and the Visual Arts Department of the government of Cataluña (Generalitat) en 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2005.