Vibrances: Néo Valen, Guardian of Emotions in a Digital World
In a Parisian studio where aluminum panels gleam under soft light, Néo Valen, self-styled “Délesteur,” stands before Cell-IOn, a machine that looks plucked from a sci-fi novel. With it, he captures human emotions—anger, wonder, love—transforming them into vibrances, digital fragments meant to preserve humanity against a future where feelings might vanish. His emochains, artworks embedding these vibrances, pose a question: can the soul be saved in a tech-dominated world? As algorithms threaten to reduce art to mere gadgets, Valen offers a bold vision, as we explored in our first report on his challenge to algorithms. A dive into an approach as intriguing as it is divisive.
Cell-IOn: An Ark for Emotions
Néo Valen, born in 1974 in Paris, has crafted a singular artistic process, outlined on delesteur.art. At its core is Cell-IOn, a machine that converts emotions into light flashes. Each emotion is sparked by a precise protocol: throwing a Parisian cobblestone into a pond for anger, granting a prayer for spirituality. These moments, captured at an exact instant (encoded in Unix time), are translated into binary and sent to Cell-IOn, which renders them as light sequences via 16 bulbs. “I don’t freeze emotions; I free them from digital clutches to preserve them,” Valen asserts, a concept we’ll explore further in our upcoming article on Cell-IOn.
The Vibrance System allows Valen to monitor these emotions in real time, like a guardian of a vanishing treasure. Vibrances, visualized as pulsating circles on a phone, can be activated to receive a unique light flash or embedded in RFID chips for emochains, artworks where emotions become tangible. This participatory approach, inviting the public to co-create, will be central to our article on participatory poetics.
A Critique: Technology Reduces Art to a Gadget
Yet Valen’s ambition doesn’t escape scrutiny. In an art market flooded with technological novelties—from NFTs to immersive apps—using Cell-IOn to encode emotions can feel like another bid to ride the digital wave. “By turning emotions into light flashes and RFID chips, Valen risks reducing art to a tech gimmick, a flashy stunt lacking depth,” snaps a Parisian art critic. This reproach, echoing debates on the place of emotional art in the 21st century, highlights a tension: in seeking to amplify emotions, technology might trivialize them, stripping art of its soul. Is Valen a visionary or a tech-obsessed showman?
Néo Valen’s Poetic Response
Unfazed, Valen responds with a striking metaphor: “Cell-IOn is not a factory but an ark. It gathers emotions to preserve them, like seeds for a future where love, anger, wonder might fade. My emochains are not gadgets; they are poems etched in aluminum, emotions ready to bloom when the world needs them.” This vision, casting technology as a guardian of humanity, aligns with a quest for healing, which we’ll explore in our article on healing through vibrances. “Each flash is a breath, a promise of emotion for tomorrow,” he adds, his gaze fixed on a softly glowing emochain.
A Visionary Art for the Future
Néo Valen’s vibrances are not mere data; they are living archives. By transforming emotions into light waves, he counters a cold technological world with a poetry that endures. His emochains, showcased on emochain.art, carry these vibrances like beating hearts, inviting viewers to feel again. This fusion of art, technology, and foresight, distinct from fleeting digital installations, offers a rare exclusivity that resonates with galleries seeking bold voices, a theme we’ll delve into in our article on emochains as emotional cartography.
In a gallery, envision a space where Valen’s vibrances pulse in radiant flashes, where each emochain tells a preserved emotion, where viewers become co-creators through protocols. This is not just art; it’s a cultural statement, an antidote to a dystopian future without emotion. “I create not for today but for tomorrow,” Valen concludes, a spark in his eyes. For galleries, it’s a chance to champion an art that doesn’t follow trends but anticipates them.
