Rafael Lozano Hemmer Electronic Artist By Shalaun Nelson

Rafael Lozano Hemmer Electronic Artist By Shalaun Nelson Fall 2018

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Age 50 Mexico, Mexico City

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was born in Mexico City in 1967. In 1989 he received a B. Sc. in Physical Chemistry from Concordia University in Montréal, Canada. Electronic artist, develops interactive installations that are at the intersection of architecture and performance art. His main interest is in creating platforms for public participation, by perverting technologies such as robotics, computerized surveillance or telematic networks. Inspired by phantasmagoria, carnival and animatronics, his light and shadow works are "anti-monuments for alien agency". The Years Midnight

His large-scale interactive installations have been commissioned for events such as the Millennium Celebrations in Mexico City (1999) and more recently, the pre-opening exhibition of the Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi (2015). Recently the subject of solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the MUAC Museum in Mexico City, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, he was the first artist to officially represent Mexico at the Venice Biennale with a solo exhibition at Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel in 2007. Sphere Packing

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was born in Mexico City in 1967. He emigrated to Canada in 1985 to study at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and then at Concordia University in Montreal. Lozano-Hemmer was drawn to science at a young age but could not resist joining the creative activities that his friends did. Initially he worked in a molecular recognition lab in Montreal and published his research in Chemistry journals. He did not pursue the sciences as a direct career, however it does have a significant influence on his work in many ways. Science for Lozano-Hemmer provides conceptual inspiration and practical approaches to creating his work. Lozano. Hemmer’s work can be considered a blend of interactive art and performance art, using both large and small scales, indoor and outdoor settings, and a wide variety of audiovisual technologies Beginnings External Interior

Bilateral Time Slicer (2016) • A biometric tracking system finds the axis of symmetry of members of the public using face detection. When the axis is found to be in an almost vertical orientation the computer splits the live camera image into two slices. With each new participant time slices are recorded and pushed aside. When no one is viewing the work, the slices close and rejoin creating a procession of past recordings. The piece is inspired by time-lapse sculptures and masks that can be found in ancient traditions (Aztec three-faced mask, the avatars of Vishnu) and modern and contemporary art (Duchamp, Balla, Minujín, Schatz, Kanemaki). Like in the Aztec three-faced mask, the central strip corresponds to the younger, most recent portrait, whereas the farthest one to the sides represents the oldest portrait. 6

Redundant Assembly (2015) • In “Redundant Assembly” an arrangement of several cameras composes a live-portrait of the visitor from six perspectives simultaneously, aligned using face detection. The resulting image is uncanny, detached from the laws of symmetry and the depth perception of binocular vision. If several visitors are standing in front of the work, a composite portrait of their different facial features develops in real time, creating a mongrel “selfie”. 7

1984 x 01984 (shadow box 10, 2014) • "1984 x 1984" is the tenth piece in Lozano-Hemmer’s Shadow Box series of interactive displays with a built -in computerized tracking system. The piece shows a grid of thousands of random numbers extracted from addresses photographed by Google Street View. Scanned by Google from the front doors of buildings around the world, the numbers have an immense variety of fonts, colours, textures, and styles. As a viewer walks in front of the piece, his or her silhouette is represented within the display, and within its form, all numbers countdown to show the number 1984 repeated throughout. The piece was made as a homage to George Orwell’s eponymous dystopian novel, 30 years after his predicted date for the collapse of privacy. 8

Voice Tunnel (Relational Architecture 21, 2013) “Voice Tunnel” is a large-scale interactive installation designed to transform the Park Avenue Tunnel during the “Summer Streets” Annual Celebration in New York City. The tunnel goes from 33 rd to 40 th streets and is open for pedestrians for the first time in its almost 200 year history. The piece consists of 300 powerful theatrical spotlights that produce columns of light along the walls and cladding of the tunnel. All fixtures are floormounted right beside the walls, seven feet from each other, shining past the spring line, fading along the internal curved surface of the tunnel, just reaching its crown. 9

Tape Recorders (subculture 14, 2011) • Rows of motorised measuring tapes record the amount of time that visitors stay in the installation. As a computerised tracking system detects the presence of a person, the closest measuring tape starts to project upwards. When the tape reaches around 3 meters high it crashes and recoils back. Each hour, the system prints the total number of minutes spent by the sum of all visitors. Commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. 10

Voice Array (subculture 13, 2011) As a participant speaks into an intercom, his or her voice is automatically translated into flashes of light and then the unique blinking pattern is stored as a loop in the first light of the array. Each new recording pushes all previous recordings one position down and gradually one can hear the cumulative sound of the 288 previous recordings. The voice that was pushed out of the array can then be heard by itself. 11

Pulse Index (2010) "Pulse Index" is an interactive installation that records participants’ fingerprints at the same time as it detects their heart rates. The piece displays data for the last 765 and over participants in a stepped display that creates a horizon line of skin. To participate, people introduce their finger into a custom-made sensor equipped with a 220 x digital microscope and a heart rate sensor; their fingerprint immediately appears on the largest cell of the display, pulsating to their heart beat. As more people try the piece one’s own recording travels upwards until it disappears altogether —a kind of memento mori using fingerprints, the most commonly used biometric image for identification. 12

Pulse Phone (2009) • Pulse Phone is an application that measures your heart rate by using the i. Phone's built-in camera and flash. The application detects small variations in the opacity of your finger as blood flows through it and calculates your pulse in beats per minute (bpm) using this information. The app visualizes the data graphically and can store it for later reference. To use, go to the "Live" tab and place your index finger over the camera. After a few seconds your pulse will be detected an animation of the data displayed. You may save recordings and email them to yourself in the "History" tab. 13

Pulse Park (Relational Architecture 14, 2008) • "Pulse Park" is comprised of a matrix of light beams that graze the central oval field of Madison Square Park. Their intensity is entirely modulated by a sensor that measures the heart rate of participants and the resulting effect is the visualization of vital signs, arguably our most symbolic biometric, in an urban scale. 14

1. Close-up (Shadow box 3, 2006) 2. Third Person (Shadow box 2, 2006) 3. Eye Contact (Shadow box 1, 2006) • Eye Contact is the first piece of the Shadow Box series of interactive displays with a built-in computerized tracking system. This piece shows eight hundred simultaneous videos of people lying down, resting. • Third Person is the second piece of the Shadow. Box series of interactive displays with a built-in computerized tracking system. This piece shows the viewer's shadow revealing hundreds of tiny words that are in fact all the verbs of the dictionary conjugated in the third person. • Close-up is the third piece of the Shadow. Box series of interactive displays with a built-in computerized tracking system. This piece shows the viewer's shadow revealing hundreds of tiny videos of other people who have recently looked at the work.

Entanglement (subculture 6, 2005) • Entanglement is an interactive installation that consists of two identical neon signs each measuring 182 x 38 cm. The signs simply say the word "Entanglement" a term used in quantum physics to describe the strange property exhibited by two particles that behave as one. The two signs are to be placed in two separate rooms, even if they are in different cities. Under each sign there is a normal light switch that turns it on and off. 16

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