The lights at CaixaForum can now be turned on and off over the Internet. Artist Chema Alvargonzalez presents Puntosdeluz.net, consisting of a set of lights installed around the old moderniste factory, linking the physical space of the building with the virtual realm of Internet, and making it possible to interact with the lights from anywhere in the world. The lights installed by Alvargonzalez at CaixaForum make up the epicentre of the installation: a red light that sporadically illuminates the perimeter of the facades, floating above the battlements of the moderniste building, and a diffused, blue light that penetrates its towers and inner passageways, forging a whole new appearance for the building within Barcelona's nightscape. The flow, movement, pace and intensity of these lights are controlled by those who visit the work through the www.puntosdeluz.net website. The Open Spaces cycle, a programme of artists' interventions on the architecture of the CaixaForum building and the space outside its exhibition galleries, thus gets underway with Alvargonzalez's work. This series will be participated in by artists with proven records of work on public installations and projects.The Puntosdeluz.net architectural intervention can be visited at CaixaForum (avinguda Marquès de Comillas, 6-8), from November 5th to March 30th, 2003. Site visitors can also interact with the work through the www.puntosdeluz.net website.Every evening at sundown, Chema Alvargonzalez' light installation will come to life, inviting the public to interact with the work or rather, to turn the lights on and off until dawn, at www.puntosdeluz.net This can be done from the CaixaForum Mediatheque or anywhere else in the world. The website offers the visiting public a wide range of proposals at any time of day, such as a chance to discover the architecture of this erstwhile factory of moderniste style through a virtual tour plotted by artist Chema Alvargonzalez, or create a poetic constellation over the building. Puntosdeluz.net thus interrelates the physical space of CaixaForum and the virtual realm of Internet, confronting the specificity of architecture and getting visitors to interact. The project has been coordinated by the Contemporary Art Collection and Mediatheque departments of ”la Caixa” Foundation.Chema Alvargonzalez's light installation marks the beginning of the Open Spaces cycle, a new proposal coordinated by the Contemporary Art Collection Department of the ”la Caixa” Foundation. It is coming into being with the mission to turn CaixaForum into a space for artistic creation. Open Spaces will be participated in by artists with strong backgrounds in public installations and projects, such as Chema Alvargonzalez or Soledad Sevilla, who will present her work in the CaixaForum Secret Garden at the beginning of the year. The cycle is devoted to the production and presentation of projects by artists in the spaces outside the CaixaForum exhibition galleries. The suggestive architecture of the old textile mill, featuring its facades, inner passageways and towers, as well as the new entrance into the cultural centre designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki will be the framework of this programme, which is meant to spark a new complicity between artists and public, in addition to becoming a lively, dynamic exchange platform. Chema Alvargonzalez (Jerez de la Frontera, 1960) studied painting and multimedia art at Barcelona's Escola Massana. He furthered his academic career at Berlin's University of Fine Arts, where he studied for a master's degree in multimedia art with Rebeca Horn. He now lives and works in Barcelona and Berlin, offering regular showings at the galleries of Carlos Taché (Barcelona) and Olivia Arauna (Madrid), in addition to several exhibition spaces in Berlin. He has participated in several international exhibitions, putting together many installations in public spaces. The focal point of his work is formed by light, language (words) and urban architecture. The media used by Alvargonzalez are photography, video and public spaces.Alvargonzalez transforms the perception of a certain urban space or architecture using artificial light. Words are also elements he frequently introduces into his installations to serve as a nexus and generate meanings in space. The main points of articulation of his discourse are focused on the context of the space, its history and relationship with the present. Among his works are Abwesenheit, an intervention at the former Spanish Embassy of Berlin (1992), Fontanelle, a work carried out in the old wheat storehouse of Potsdam, now used as Kunsthalle (1993); Blue de Capri, an installation at the Malaparte de Capri (1994) house; Temps de pas, work in a building on Barcelona's Consell de Cent (1994); Kunstprojekte-Riem, an installation in the control tower of the quondam Munich airport (2000); Hohenzollernbrücke, a project on the Cologne Bridge (2000), and Mehr Licht, an installation on the facade of the Swiss Embassy in Berlín (2001).Puntosdeluz.netFrom 6 November, 2002 to 30 March, 2003Opening: Tuesday, 5 November, at 8 pmCaixaForumAv. Marquès de Comillas, 6-808038 BarcelonaFree admissionwww.fundacio.lacaixa.es