Rafael Vargas
To sit and wait for change. To sit and wait for the right opportunity. To sit and wait while thriving. To sit and wait while wasting away. To sit and wait alone. To sit and wait together. To sit and wait and live. To sit and wait and die.
Acerca de Sitting and Waiting is an intimate installation about coping with an ambiguous and constantly fluctuating existence. It consists of a sculpture and four prints. The sculpture generates sound by translating an Oreagni Brujo plant’s soil moisture and temperature into audio frequencies. You can interact with it by watering the plant or with your physical proximity to the plant.
Acerca de Sitting and Waiting, 2020-2021
2’ x 3’ x 3’
Interactive sculpture with sound.
Wood, cement, acrylic paint, circuit, sensors, speaker, wire, software, Longevity Spinach (Gynura Procumbens), plastic planter, and aluminum watering can.
This sculpture automatically generates sound frequencies by the direct mathematical interpretation of the moisture and temperature of a plant’s soil. This piece can be interacted with by watering the plant.
“Acerca de Sitting and Waiting and Installing”
2021, Rafael Vargas-Bernard
16” x 16”
Digital dye-sublimation print on ChromaLuxe Aluminum
Edition of 5
“Acerca de Sitting and Waiting and Details 1”
2021, Rafael Vargas-Bernard
8” x 8”
Digital dye-sublimation print on ChromaLuxe Aluminum
Edition of 5
“Acerca de Sitting and Waiting and Details 2”
2021, Rafael Vargas-Bernard
8” x 8”
Digital dye-sublimation print on ChromaLuxe Aluminum
Edition of 5
“Acerca de Sitting and Waiting and Sculpting”
2021, Rafael Vargas-Bernard
8” x 8”
Digital dye-sublimation print on ChromaLuxe Aluminum
Edition of 5
Rafael Vargas Bernard (b. 1979, Puerto Rico)
Rafael Vargas Bernard is an interdisciplinary visual artist, cultural worker, noise/experimental musician, and performer with post-digital art and new media tendencies. Formerly Education Department Manager/Coordinator at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, in 2018, Vargas Bernard moved to Miami, FL. He became Community Manager and Co-Directed the Mana Contemporary Miami / 777 Mall art complex and community until 2021. He worked as the Director of Programs and Operations for FilmGate Miami. Rafael currently works as the Assistant Director for Blu Sky Gallery and Creative Solutions and Marketing Specialist for Sanctuary of the Arts. Vargas Bernard studied Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Studio Art at the Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez Puerto Rico, Sculpture and Imagen y movimiento at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico, and La Práctica at Beta-Local (San Juan, PR). Rafael creates experiences, images, and objects that are often interactive. His work examines vulnerability, artificial and organic systems, power structures, and the human condition. Vargas Bernard combines performance, sound, programming, sculpture, painting, humor, readily accessible materials and technologies, commonplace items, and digital media in his creative practice. His work is in several private collections and the permanent public collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, the Museum of Art of Caguas, and the Young at Art Museum. His work has been presented by Exit Art NYC, VOLTA NY, Mana Contemporary, Clocktower Productions, Oolite Arts, Edge Zones, Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, and the Wrong Bienniale. His work has been reviewed in the Art Newspaper, Vice Magazine, Medium, and Art in America, amongst others.
