Elias Crespin

Born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1965, Elias Crespin’s training in engineering and computer science is fundamental to the development of his practice, which merges two distinct universes: art and programming. An encounter with the work of Jesús Rafael Soto led him to recognise the potential of abstraction as a form of mathematical representation. His first artwork, “Malla electrocinética I” (2004), emerged from a process of reflection on the mathematics of movement. Using motors controlled by custom-designed software, he animates geometric modules whose kinetic metamorphoses allude to both dance and mathematical analysis.

In 2018, Crespin was commissioned by the Louvre Museum to create “L’Onde du Midi” (2020), a large-scale mobile sculpture composed of 128 metal cylinders suspended from nylon cables connected to programmed motors that generate algorithmically driven movement. The work’s undulations and transformations form a choreography shaped by the lines and planes of the museum’s architecture, materialising the abstraction of the formal continuities between artwork and space. Crespin’s research explores time, form and movement not only as aesthetic kinetic elements, but also as mathematical components rooted in analysis and programming.

His works have been presented in numerous international solo and group exhibitions, including the International Exhibition in Astana; the XIII Cuenca Biennial; the Busan Biennial in Korea; the Grand Palais; the Maison de l’Amérique Latine; the Musée de la Musique in Paris; the Louvre Museum; the Fondation Boghossian; the Verrière Hermès in Brussels; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH); and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.

He currently lives and works in Paris, France.