Manuel Gardina

Manuel Gardina is a multidisciplinary artist who developed his education between the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan and Middlesex University in London, where he expanded his research into new media.

His artistic exploration was further enriched through experiences at HQ Immersive Lab in the UK, CG Forge, and Houdini School, strengthening his ability to integrate traditional visual art with digital technologies, programming, and special effects.

His work spans two-dimensional pieces, large-scale interactive installations, and video, reflecting on the oxidation and transformation of nature through digital synthesis. Constantly navigating between the concreteness of reality and the abstraction of the virtual, his practice explores the potential and challenges of this ever-evolving dialogue.

His works have been exhibited and presented in various venues, including permanent installations at Casa Museo Palazzo Mattei, Museo Diocesano, The Address Gallery, and in cities such as Milan, New York, and London.

Liminal Love is an interactive work that acts as a threshold between the physical and digital worlds. Its frame doesn’t simply hold a mirror for reflection, but a surface animated by sensors that detect the presence and movement of the body, reconstructing the image in real time—where the self is continuously rewritten in light and code.

This mirror goes beyond mere reflection: it observes, interprets, and transforms what it sees. The generated forms—intertwining, multiplying, and rippling across the surface—evoke bioluminescent flora or deep-sea organisms. They pulse and unfold in response to proximity and gesture, creating a living drawing, unique and fleeting like the presence of the viewer.

Each interaction is a one-of-a-kind event, a visual improvisation that exists only in the moment it is experienced.