Claudia Bueno: Echoes of the Heart

Beginning June 9, 2023, the Hermitage Museum will feature internationally recognized artist Claudia Bueno for a three-month solo exhibition. Born in Venezuela, Bueno creates stunning, interactive worlds that call forth our most intimate, foundational emotions and gives them seemingly limitless space in which to fully bloom. Metaphor and biology are forever married in works of sound, light, circuits, motors, wind and film. These mystical, immersive environments reflect her personal commitment to healing and inner growth and our collective fascination with the building blocks of our inner worlds—energy, consciousness and spirit. Bueno finds a wellspring of inspiration in our innate, personal connection to the natural world—the twisting, aspiring branches of a cypress tree; the infinitely curious tentacles of an octopus; the factory chambers of the heart; the delicate wings of a bird of prey; the neural pathways and confluence of arteries that turn energy and blood into thought and action. Each work is ultimately and essentially a celebration of life and creation. For Echoes of the Heart, multiple gallery spaces will become temples, each dedicated to a particular facet of the human experience—intricate, interactive sacred spaces that promote togetherness and a sense of belonging for one’s own heart, spirit or physical form. Bueno’s installations, creations and ethereal phenomena will be given full reign—transforming the museum inside and out and blending each room to the next—for a fully immersive exploration of the curiosities of the natural world and the vast possibilities and delicate nature of the heart, featuring a collaborative soundscape with Brazilian-born healer/musician, Poranguí. Echoes of the Heart invites visitors to take a moment for themselves and each other—to turn off time for a while and travel through the emotional worlds we share, reconnecting with our essential, collective source of life, energy and love.