GALLERY
BIOGRAPHY
“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 “antimonuments for alien agency”.
His work has been commissioned for events such as the Millennium Celebrations in Mexico City (1999), the Cultural Capital of Europe in Rotterdam (2001), the UN World Summit of Cities in Lyon (2003), the opening of the YCAM Center in Japan (2003), the Expansion of the European Union in Dublin (2004), the memorial for the Tlatelolco Student Massacre in Mexico City (2008), the 50th Anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum in New York (2009) and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver (2010).
His kinetic sculptures, responsive environments, video installations and photographs have been shown in museums in four dozen countries. In 2007 he was the first artist to officially represent Mexico at the Venice Biennale with a solo exhibition at Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel. He has also shown at Art Biennials in Sydney, Liverpool, Shanghai, Istanbul, Seville, Seoul, Havana and New Orleans. His work is in private and public collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Jumex collection in Mexico, the Museum of 21st Century Art in Kanazawa, the Daros Foundation in Zürich and TATE in London.
He has received two BAFTA British Academy Awards for Interactive Art in London, a Golden Nica at the Prix Ars Electronica in Austria, a distinction at the SFMOMA Webby Awards in San Francisco, "Artist of the year" Rave Award in Wired Magazine, a Rockefeller fellowship, the Trophée des Lumières in Lyon and an International Bauhaus Award in Dessau.
He has given many workshops and conferences, among them at Goldsmiths college, the Bartlett school, Princeton, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Cooper Union, MIT MediaLab, Guggenheim Museum, LA MOCA, Netherlands Architecture Institute and the Art Institute of Chicago. His writing has been published in Kunstforum (Germany), Leonardo (USA), Performance Research (UK), Telepolis (Germany), Movimiento Actual (Mexico), Archis (Netherlands), Aztlán (USA) and other art and media publications.”
INTERVIEW
You can go to:
http://www.lozano-hemmer.com/texts.php and download multiple interviews with Lozano-Hemmer.
QUOTES
“Walter Benjamin spoke with great clarity about the birth of modernism. For him the image is that which can be reproduced mechanically, a condition that eliminates the aural quality from a work of art. Mechanical reproduction democratizes art, popularizes it, and takes away that privileged point of view born of singularity. However, with digital technologies I believe that the aura has returned, and with a vengeance, because what digital technology emphasizes, through interactivity, is the multiple reading, the idea that a piece of art is created by the participation of the user. The idea that a work is not hermetic but something that requires exposure in order to exist is fundamental to understand this “vengeance of the aura”.”
From an interview by Jose Luis Barrios on April 20th, 2005
“Today digital art, —actually all art—, has awareness. This has always been true, but we have now become aware of art’s awareness. Pieces listen to us, they see us, they sense our presence and wait for us to inspire them, and not the other way around. It is no coincidence that post-modern art emphasizes the audience.”
From an interview by Jose Luis Barrios on April 20th, 2005
I love the interactive aspect of Raphal Lozano-Hemmer's work. He allows the viewer to make the art effective. His conversation of space and the individual is admirable, and his use of digital technology speaks very well to the 21st century. A lot of the artists I have recently found use aspects of Walter Benjamin's writings in their work, each very different from the next, and I really enjoy seeing the variations of communication of ideas. I will be looking to Lozano-Hemmer for inspiration on installation art and interactivity.
Third Person
Shadow Box 2 - 2006
High-resolution interactive display with built-in computerized surveillance system.
Shadow box 104.5 x 80 x 12 cm. Installation variable.
6 copies + 1 AP
Eye Contact
Shadow Box 1 – 2006
High resolution interactive display with built-in computerized surveillance system.
104.5 x 80 x 12 cm.
6 copies + 1 AP
Sustained Coincidence
Subsculpture 8 – 2007
lightbulbs, computerized surveillance system, dimmers, IR illuminators, custom software
Variable dimensions.
Close-up
Shadow Box 3 – 2006
High resolution interactive display with built-in computerized surveillance system
Shadow box 104.5 x 80 x 12 cm. Installation variable
6 copies + 1 AP
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