'Cybernetic Dalí': He would have liked it

If you think that by reading this article you will have already made a virtual visit to this artistic-technological exhibition, not only will you be wrong, but you will also not have understood the article. If it were an exhibition of paintings, it would not be possible to make a virtual written visit without further ado, but at least you could consider yourselves close to the subject. However, in this case there are things as impossible to photograph as to explain only with words and this is an extreme that, I admit, bothers me.

It had been a long time since I could tell something with words or with a photo from my phone. In this case, I assure you that the technology used makes it impossible to do justice to the exhibition with words alone and not even with images, leaving in an absurd debate that of whether a thousand images are worth more than the vice versa. I will try to get closer, and obviously explain what I mean when I say that I will not be able to explain it. But you are warned, both the public and Ideal itself: there will be things that can only be tried to tell with an abstract "you have to go, I don't know how to explain it to you", and that is both an advantage and a disadvantage. A disadvantage because, in marketing terms, it will be (and is) difficult to convey the sensation to the public. And an advantage because, if it really costs so much to tell, it means that you will have to go no matter what. And believe me: yes.

I must say that the exhibition is somewhat uneven, in terms of sensations, with such a spectacular grand finale that it leaves the first two parts of the tour too dwarfed. And this despite the dimensions, the technology, the quality of the works and the texts, etcetera: but it is true that in this case the impact is irregular and even so, I repeat again, waiting until the end compensates and a lot.

Everything begins with some explanatory panels, as almost always in Ideal, to gradually get into the subject and justify the initiative: in this case, the relationship between Dalí and science, and the search for a way to explain his cosmogony with immersive technology. Accompanying these panels we will see apparatus from his time, the latest technological revolutions that the genius could contemplate, such as the first computers or printers or faxes, conveniently arranged as retro objects.

Dalí was truly obsessed with scientific advancements, although he always repudiated photographic cameras because they would never achieve the expressive power of art. He was a great explorer of cells and nature's symmetries, fractals, mathematically beautiful forms like the hyperbola of a rhinoceros horn, atoms, neutrons, protons, DNA, from which in fact derives (according to him) something as Darwinianly indisputable as that "a small, pecking, short-legged, short-beaked hen had six chicks" with exactly the same attributes. The monarchy of nature. The cruelty of things as they are. The beautiful sadism of science.

Dalí was truly obsessed with scientific advancements, although he always repudiated photographic cameras because they would never achieve the expressive power of art

The large room, with its immense immersive screens and cubic armchairs on the floor, is dedicated to Dalinian works that lend themselves most to animation: the premonition of the Civil War, the melting clocks, Gala in the form of Leda Atomica (that painting where no object touches another, not even the sea touches the beach) and especially the Galatea of the Spheres, which summarizes in a strategic composition of balls the figure of his personal goddess. A set that implies the great (and unprecedented) merit of having obtained the permission and complicity of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, something complicated as everyone knows, and which with the animations manage to lead to a sensation similar to that of dream and delirium.

Not bad, if it weren't for the fact that you end up worrying that Ideal, with what it does in this room, is already starting to repeat itself and no longer knows how to surprise, neither in animations nor in music. For a moment this makes one suffer and even wonder if Dalí would justify the intervention, although the space of The Cybernetic Princess, designed so that visitors (and especially children) can send their small digital work of art to a figure installed on the wall, is a complete success as an interactive experience. Until then we move on to the last room: that of the metaverse. That of the glasses. I believe this last room is one to take off your hat, your barretina, your bread, and your tricorn.

Here is when it is already difficult to describe it with words and images: I said before that a small problem can be that, although panels and screens can be photographed, the Metaverse experience that Ideal offers us cannot be photographed. I will proceed to give you some brushstrokes, but keep in mind that you will not have experienced anything similar despite the numerous advances with which Ideal has constantly been gifting us.

In this case, what turns into copper and gold are your own hands, just as your head transforms (in the eyes of others) into a timely diving helmet from Monturiol's era. And before you, an immense expanse of sky and atmospheric phenomena (wind, rain, night, sunset, sunrise) that accompany your journey in a large boat where you can walk around, touch, and peer into every corner. The journey evidently includes Cap de Creus, mythological figures, ants, flies, elephants with spider legs, gusts of wind (real and palpable), fireflies, and rising suns that open like an eggshell.

Believe me, Dalí would have said "Olé!" and would have considered not only the technological treatment but especially the script appropriate. The content. The meaning, the philosophy, the theology, the metaphor, and the message of each thing. I don't know if they have managed to accurately interpret his dreams: I do know that they have managed to interpret Salvador Dalí. Which is, as everyone should already know, the only great work of art he wanted to create.