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Pou highlights that science was for Dalí “a way to reach immortality and to understand God”
The book is the result of research for her doctoral thesis, directed by the dean of the Faculty of Humanities at UIC Barcelona, Judith Urbano.
Barcelona, January 18, 2024.- The Dalí expert and professor at the Faculty of Humanities and doctoral student at UIC Barcelona, Anna Pou van der Bossche, reveals in the book Dalí. Art_Science_Cybernetics the artist’s obsession with technology, alchemy and cybernetics in his last stage.
During the presentation of the book at UIC Barcelona, Pou explained that the painter’s last years are the ones that interest him the most, since “it is where his fixation with science is most visible.” “I am finding works full of chips, pixels and even electronic circuits printed in gold, like those that fill the Teatre-Museu of Figueres, which Dalí precisely designed as a computer,” he highlighted.
The Dalí expert, who is also the curator of the immersive exhibition ‘Dalí Cibernético’, at the Ideal, Barcelona Digital Arts Centre, -now on a world tour-, has commented that the artist focused on technology because, for him , “it was a way to reach immortality and to understand God.” According to Pou, he “identified with computers and defined himself as a ‘thinking machine’.”
The author has cited little-known works – some practically unstudied or uncatalogued – such as Princesa Cibernética (1974), Odalisca Cibernética (1978) and The Lullian Wheels (1979), “where we can see in an unmistakable way how Dalí focuses on cybernetics in the last decades”, to the point of being able to consider him “the father of cybernetics”. “Dali himself, when asked in an interview what is the most important thing he has done, he states that one of them is discovering cybernetics by hand, not electronics,” she added.
In the book, the result of research for his doctoral thesis, Pou states that Dalí predicted the metaverse and already in 1957 designed “a dream machine”, which are the first virtual reality glasses. The professor also concludes in her work that “a study on cybernetics in Dalí has never been carried out and there are still many works to be discovered, analyzed and redefined.”
The presentation of the book Dalí. Art_Science_Cybernetics, with a prologue by the director of the Dalí museums, Montse Aquer Teixidor, was carried out by the dean of the Faculty of Humanities at UIC Barcelona, Judith Urbano, who highlighted that “with this book, Anna Pou leaves us out game when he discovers new things by researching Dalí’s personal library at the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. Furthermore, she has highlighted the importance that, despite being an informative book, it comes from research, “providing it with a guarantee that not all books on the market have.”
Anna Pou also commented during the presentation that she continues with the research for her doctoral thesis, which she has to take to New York to be able to delve deeper into Dalí’s relationship with companies such as National Cash Register or IBM.
About the Faculty of Humanities at UIC Barcelona
The Faculty of Humanities was born 25 years ago with the institution of UIC Barcelona. One of the first faculties of the University that, beyond its undergraduate, master’s and postgraduate studies, has the mission of promoting the transversality of the humanities by providing the different degrees and degrees at UIC Barcelona with a series of subjects that complement the training. humanities of the students, providing students and future professionals with basic knowledge that allows them to delve deeper into ethical and anthropological issues.
About UIC Barcelona
The International University of Catalonia (UIC Barcelona) was founded in 1997 with the aim of offering quality university education and promoting research to serve society. Linked to the business world and with a marked international character, UIC Barcelona today welcomes around 9,000 students. We teach sixteen degrees, around thirty international double degrees and a wide range of master’s degrees, postgraduate degrees and continuing training courses, on the two campuses we have, located in Barcelona and Sant Cugat del Vallès. We offer tailored attention, a comprehensive approach to each student, constant professional connection and innovation in teaching and research methods. We are connected with society and companies through sixteen chairs and five business classrooms, five research institutes and three university clinics.
More information
Irene Pérez MartínezCommunication Manageriperezm@uic.es6?75 783 427
UIC BarcelonaImmaculada, 2208017 Barcelona
