Néstor Lizalde
Néstor Lizalde

Néstor Lizalde builds contemporary mythologies. His practice brings together electronic sculptures, light installations and reactive systems that operate as mirrors of the archaic: devices capable of making visible what remains active beneath the surface of the technological. In his work, electricity and code are not neutral media but symbolically charged matter — a continuation of the fire that inaugurates every history of technique and knowledge.

His works do not produce images: they construct thresholds. Systems that listen, respond and transform in real time; luminous geometries that expand beyond their physical limits; spaces where the viewer does not observe but enters into relation with something that precedes them. Light, sound and code function as spatial grammar and as invocation: they activate a presence that depends not on narrative but on direct experience, on that instant when the technological acquires a ritual density the body recognises before the mind does.

Over two decades, his practice has operated across very different scales and contexts: from gallery works to large-format architectural interventions, from the stage to the urban public space. He has shown work at international festivals including Ars Electronica (Linz), Mapping Festival (Geneva) and Naves Matadero (Madrid), with institutional commissions from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Azkuna Zentroa (Bilbao). For a decade he was also the driving force behind the New Media Lab and the Media Façade programme at Etopia, a leading centre for electronic art in Spain. Each context has sharpened a way of working in which technical rigour and symbolic charge operate as a single creative gesture.

Academic background

2010–2012

Advanced Technician in Electronics Higher Vocational Training / San Valero Foundation (FSV)

 

2008–2010

Master's Degree in Visual Arts and Multimedia Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV)

 

2003–2008

Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts University of Salamanca (USAL)

 

2000–2003

Advanced Technician in Graphic Design Zaragoza School of Art (ESDA)

Selected works

2026

Interferencias — Public art installation Festival Zaragoza Luce / Plaza San Felipe. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2025

Pii, architectural expansion — Site-specific installation Festival Zaragoza Luce / College of Architects of Aragon. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2024

Cierzo Module — Public art installation Commissioned by the Zaragoza City Council. Plaza Miguel Salamero. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2021

Genealogy of Fire — Site-specific electronic sculpture Monastery of San Juan de la Peña / Monastery of Rueda, Spain — Abbey of Saint-Vincent de Lucq, France.

 

2019

Electric Akelarre — Site-specific installation Azkuna Zentroa. Bilbao, Spain. The Passenger — Electronic sculpture Etopia Centre for Art and Technology. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2015

Pii — Electronic sculpture Etopia Centre for Art and Technology. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2013

Henhouse — Generative device Etopia Centre for Art and Technology. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2011

Tower of Heads — Audiovisual sculpture Galería Antonia Puyó. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2010

Velvet Transcode — Interactive device Polytechnic University of Valencia. Valencia, Spain.

 

2009

Mouth on the Net — Net.art video work Galería Railowsky. Valencia, Spain.

 

2005

Hole — Audiovisual installation Muestra de Arte Joven de Aragón. IAJ Award. Zaragoza, Spain.

Exhibitions and festivals

Selection

2025–2026

Festival Zaragoza Luce Zaragoza City Council. International festival of light art. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2022

Group exhibition Nomadic Borders Etopia Centre for Art and Technology. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2020

Group exhibition Experimenta 2020 — Art and Science Biennial Maison Minatec. Grenoble, France.

 

2016

Group exhibition Mapping Festival 2016 Le Commun / BAC Bâtiment d'art contemporain. Geneva, Switzerland. Group exhibition Remote Signals ARSi maja. Tallinn, Estonia. Group exhibition Visages. Spanish Culture Today Villa des Arts de Rabat. Morocco.

 

2015

Group exhibition Naked Veriti Ars Electronica — Post City & Ars Electronica Center. Linz, Austria. Commissioned by the Spanish Ministry of Culture / Acción Cultural Española (AC/E).

 

2014

Shortlisted work MADATAC 06 International Festival of Audiovisual Art and Advanced Technologies. Palacio de Cibeles. Madrid, Spain.

 

2011

Transcode — Solo exhibition Galería Antonia Puyó. Zaragoza, Spain.

Performing arts

Selection

2023

Huerto — Stage audiovisual Show by Paula Quintana. Developed at Graner, Centre de Creació de Dansa i Arts Vives. Barcelona. National tour.

 

2020

SU(3) — Site-specific performance Festival Trayectos / Etopia Centre for Art and Technology. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2018

El Jardín — Stage device Teatro Principal de Zaragoza. Spain. Número 0 / N0 Collective — Stage device Naves Matadero — Centro Internacional de Artes Vivas. Madrid, Spain.

 

2017

Dancing Building — Site-specific performance Festival Trayectos / Etopia Centre for Art and Technology. Zaragoza, Spain. Ushuaia — Stage device Teatro Español. Madrid, Spain.

 

2016

Lypsis — Stage device Teatro del Mercado. Zaragoza, Spain.

Education and mediation

Selection

2026

Lecture Zaragoza Luce, professional encounters College of Architects of Aragon. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2014–2024

Design and coordination of the New Media Lab and the Media Façade Academy programme Etopia Centre for Art and Technology. Zaragoza, Spain. Specialised training for national and international artists in advanced audiovisual experimentation and creation for architectural LED façades.

 

2019

Paper at the International Congress Art, Heritage and Technologies in the Digital Age IAACC Pablo Serrano. Zaragoza, Spain.

 

2017

Lecture Machines and Souls: technological innovation and grammars of contemporary creation City of Culture. Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

 

2014

Workshop Creation of interactive audiovisual installations Centro Simón I. Patiño. Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

 

2010–2014

Workshops on creation with electronics and visual programming Etopia Centre for Art and Technology, Maker Faire Bilbao, University of Zaragoza, among others. Practical training in interactive audiovisual installations, real-time video processing and electronic art.

Awards

2014

Best Emerging Aragonese Artist 2013 AACA — Aragonese Association of Art Critics.

 

2005

Winner of the Muestra de Arte Joven de Aragón 2005 IAJ — Aragonese Institute of Youth.