EL CONSULADO is pleased to share Present Tension, a residency exhibition by Venezuelan artist Carlos J. Gómez de Llarena, on view at Nguyen Wahed Gallery in New York from July 16 through July 31, 2026.
Through video installations, computer vision, responsive media, and AI-assisted workflows, Present Tension examines what happens when human presence becomes input for computation.
In contemporary public space, appearing before a camera or sensor increasingly means participating without being asked. A person’s image can be recorded, analyzed, anonymized, targeted, erased, or transformed. The exhibition asks what consent means when presence itself is treated as permission.
Presence as Participation
The title Present Tension carries several meanings at once.
“Present” refers to the immediacy of real-time systems: cameras, computer vision models, and generative AI tools that respond while the viewer is physically present. It also points to a growing social tension surrounding the use of our likeness.
The question is no longer only who is watching. It is also what a person becomes once seen by a computational system: an image, a target, a dataset, a sound, or an abstraction.
How does that transformation affect our sense of identity?
Between Surveillance and Play
Gómez de Llarena does not approach artificial intelligence as a single subject or visual style. Instead, he considers computer vision as part of a larger system of mediated perception.
Across the exhibition, technologies of recognition move between control and play, violence and spectacle, disappearance and performance.
Visitors may see themselves transformed into audiovisual compositions, removed from live camera feeds, or reimagined through generative systems. Some works are presented as finished studies, while others remain prototypes in development, inviting participation and audience feedback.
Together, the works extend Gómez de Llarena’s ongoing investigation into public space, responsive media, and participatory systems while addressing new questions created by machine vision and generative image-making.
About the Artist
Carlos J. Gómez de Llarena works across interactive media, video installation, public space, and technology-driven art.
His practice explores how bodies, environments, and social behaviors are shaped by systems of observation, mediation, and participation. In Present Tension, these concerns are brought into dialogue with the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and automated visual recognition.
Exhibition Details
Present Tension Carlos J. Gómez de Llarena | Residency
📅 July 16–31, 2026
📍 Nguyen Wahed Gallery 504 East 12th Street New York, NY 10009
Gallery hours: Tuesday–Saturday 2:00–6:00 PM
Admission is free.
Artist Information
Website: med44.com
Instagram: @carlosj44
Exhibition information provided by Nguyen Wahed Gallery.
Image caption: Anonimizer, 2026. In progress, 9 × 8 × 8 ft. (3 × 2.5 × 2.5 m). Interactive installation.
