Future Remnants

Carlos Sáez makes art that looks as though it was just discovered in an archeological dig – remnants from the future. He rediscovers the forgotten physical and abstract matter, deconstructs and reconstructs it back to reality; His own reality. His diverse components and medium associates with an unknown time frame and things that develop between human beings and technology. Thus, they’re growing together to a state of completion.

How do you describe yourself and your complex hybrid work to someone who doesn’t know you at all?

This is always a funny moment. Usually people still wait to hear a medium, a style or an aesthetic when they ask you that question and that’s no longer possible always. Learning and making became both easier and disciples are melting each other. In my case the medium I use each time is just a tool I choose for convenience and it changes constantly. I mostly describe what I do by referring to my interests in technology as a concept and maybe after I mention some media I use to express them or I just use the wildcard “multimedia”. Sometimes the best option is to show one’s instagram profile and let everyone draw their own conclusions.

Music is a significant part of your artistic source. What are your focal points in music these days?

Yeah, music has always been my biggest source of motivation. Several artistic disciplines go inside your body, music is one of them. I have been using music and sound as a creative tool for a long time now, but always as a company of a video or an installation. I’m currently developing some audiovisual instruments. My idea is to work music together with a visual exercise. I already have a few of them as side projects. Some of them are installations using abandoned hardware, some others are software. Hopefully I can release them soon for download!

Carlos and Arca collaboration outcome is an absolute masterpiece. What is the biggest reason behind this strong synergy? 

I guess there has been a huge connection from the first beginning. We have a lot of interests in common but also enough differences to have fun during a creative process. We have a lot of fun working together, that’s for sure. She helped me to embrace a lot of things from me I was trying to cut off or change. I will be always grateful for this.

You also did music for Balenciaga’s video game campaign. Tell us more about this project.

Claudia Mate reached me out for this. She told me about this video game she was programming for the brand. She needed some video game music and I had some arpeggios and stuff in my computer. In fact, the melodies came from a makina track I did long ago, they were fitting really well with the cuteness of the characters. I love Claudia so much, she is the best. It was so fun to collaborate again on this.

“Concrete Effect” was your first solo sculpture show. As a multimedia -digital- artist, what made you explore more physical matter such as electronic waste and hardware?

As I said, don’t feel very attached to the media or a discipline. I keep loyal to my interests or the stuff I like to read and talk about. The idea and the text is what determines the end form. I’m mostly interested in the relationship between human beings and technologies. There was a period where I was more focused on the internet as technology, therefore all most of my works were web based or at least digital. Net art and digital works have been a strong communicative weapon in art and also sort of a graffiti, pieces belonging to no one but also everyone. Projects like Cloaque.org helped me to explore the idea of online communities at that time. Now I’m more interested in the technologic waste and the meaning of abandoned technologies. This has inevitable physical results.

What is your biggest fear in general? 

Myself.

What is your escape-from-yourself moment like? What do you do when you don’t create?

I love to do sports. I usually go with the bike to El Saler, a cute beach area close to Valencia, where I live. I love to swim there and also spend some time at the outdoor gym. 

What does Furry Fandom and Anthro represent to you?

I love furries as a type of morphological freedom expression. The idea of the interspecies has been living with us for ages and this becomes every day more real. We are already living some kind of morphological freedom on the internet. We are free to choose our appearance on online platforms. I also think it’s important to understand that Furries are anthropomorphic, but not all anthropomorphics are furries. I feel more attached to the anthropomorphic culture in general without limits between the living and the not living beings.

Did Covid-19/confinement affect your creative process?

I guess everything affects my creative process. It turned more digital for obvious reasons but as many other people I was used to it.

Tell us more about your collective art space: Pluto. 

Pluto was built originally as a space for digital and experimental music works. To create but also provide a space to showcase them. Then the covid-19 happened, so we decided that Pluto should focus more on sculpture and plastic works. We provide spaces for artists we love in Valencia. Our goal is to to create a hybrid community by combining technical oriented profiles with more experimental and conceptual creatives in one space. We have people from all ages and gender types working together and learning from each other. It’s really lovely to see this.

A movie that blew your mind?

One of my favourite movies ever is David Cronenberg’s “Crash”. Alejandra showed me Border (2018) directed by Ali Abbasi. Also the documentary “Disclosure”.