border_tuner_el_paso_ciudad_juarez_2019_ml_1ML00004.jpg

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Border Tuner, 2019, bridges of light controlled by the voices of participants across the US-Mexico border between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, visible over a 10-mile (16-Km) radius, Photo by Mónica Lozano © Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, courtesy of the artist

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

rlh_portrait.jpg

Details:

b. 1967, Mexico City

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is a media artist who creates platforms for public participation using technologies such as robotic lights, digital fountains, computerized surveillance, media walls, and telematic networks.

He was the first artist to represent Mexico at the Venice Biennale with an exhibition at Palazzo van Axel in 2007. He has also shown at biennials in Cuenca, Havana, Istanbul, Kochi, Liverpool, Melbourne, Moscow, New Orleans, New York, Seoul, Seville, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Wuzhen.

Public artworks by Lozano-Hemmer have been commissioned for the Millennium Celebrations in Mexico City (1999), the Expansion of the European Union in Dublin (2004), the Student Massacre Memorial in Tlatelolco (2008), the Vancouver Olympics (2010), the pre-opening exhibition of the Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi (2015), and the activation of the Raurica Roman Theatre in Basel (2018).

Public institutions holding his work include Daros Collection, Zürich; Fundación Jumex, Mexico City; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; KZM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany; MUAC, Mexico City; MONA, Hobart, Tasmania; Museo del Barrio, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Science Museum, London; Singapore Art Museum; and Tate, London, among many others. In the past two years, Lozano-Hemmer was the subject of nine solo exhibitions worldwide, including a major show at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., the inaugural show at the Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul, and a mid-career retrospective co-produced by Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

In 2019, his immersive performance Atmospheric Memory premiered at the Manchester International Festival and his interactive installation Border Tuner connected people across the US-Mexico border using bridges of light controlled by the voices of participants in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua and El Paso, Texas.

atmosphonia_manchester_2019_my_5436.jpg

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Atmosphonia, 2019, sound installation featuring 3,000 speakers each playing a different field recording, dimensions variable, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, photo by Mariana Yañez © Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, courtesy of the artist

solar_equation_led_quebec_2018_il_005.jpg

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Volumetric Solar Equation, 2018, volumetric display with 25,580 LED lights hung in a Fermat pattern, which simulate the turbulence, flares, and spots visible on the surface of the sun, 118" (300 cm) diameter sphere, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, Photo by Idra Labrie © Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, courtesy of the artist and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec

sphere_packing_bach_montreal_2018_glh_006.jpg

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Sphere Packing: Bach, 2018, wood and aluminium structure, cables, computer, 1,128 loudspeakers each playing a different composition by J.S. Bach, 118" (300 cm) diameter sphere, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, Photo by Guy L’Heureux © Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, courtesy of the artist and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal

1984x1984_print_montreal_2016_rlh_001.jpg

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, 1984 x 1984, 2014, C-print on Fuji Maxima paper, 84 x 47" (213 x 120 cm), Edition of 6 + 1 AP, Photo by Antimodular © Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, courtesy of the artist and bitforms gallery

volute_manchester_2019_my_5377.jpg

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Volute 1: Au Clair de la Lune, 2016, aluminium 3D-printed speech bubble, 26 x 7 x 8 (65 x 19 x 21 cm), Edition of 6 + 2 APs, Photo by Mariana Yañez © Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, courtesy of the artist and Giverny Collection

zoom_pavilion_basel_2016_rlh_064.jpg

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Krzysztof Wodiczko, Zoom Pavilion, 2015, computerized surveillance cameras track the spatial relationships between visitors, variable dimensions, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, Photo by Antimodular © Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, courtesy of the artist and Art Basel Unlimited