Haunch of Venison is delighted to announce its first exhibition with the Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, one of the world’s leading electronic artists.
15 Oct – 29 Nov 2008.
Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer presents three new large-scale interactive works which use an extraordinary mix of robotics,water, projections, surveillance-tracking technology, lights, sound and infra-red sensors for his first exhibition at Haunch of Venison London.
A solitary spot-lit vintage microphone on the ground floor invites participants to speak into it, then randomly broadcasts an utterance made by a previous participant in response. The result is an unexpected andincoherent dialogue, in which past and present participants appear to interact, with the microphone becoming a repository for their unlikely exchange.
On the first floor, viewers are met by an upheld palm which immediately detects their presence, turns to face them, and then follows their movement around the gallery in a slightly sinister manner. As more
people enter the room, more hands appear, each appearing to track of the public. A visualisation of electronic detection, Glories of Accounting uses the metaphor of the open, upturned palm to signify both restriction (as in the ‘stop’ gesture) and inclusion (as in the expression‘show of hands’).
In Less Than Three, a baroque network of neon tubes suggests the convolutions of communication. As a participant speaks into a nearby intercom, their voice is translated into corresponding flashes of light and this light pattern is transmitted visually along one of the several possible pathways through the network. When it reaches the other side, the viewer’s phrase is once again released as sound.
A new installation Reporters with Borders dominates the top floor gallery.
Infra-red sensors detect the presence of viewers, bringing large composite projections of Mexican and American TV news reporters to life within the viewers’ silhouettes. Arranged according to distinctions such as male/female, Mexican/US, light-skinned/dark-skinned, eyes open/eyes closed, the previously still figures begin to report the news animatedly,their voices rising to a cacophonous chorus. In the annex, another new work Pulse Tank records the heartbeats of viewers. Their pulses reverberate through the water as ripples, radiating outwards from the source and illuminated to spectacular effect on the surrounding walls. One of the world’s leading electronic artists, Lozano-Hemmer’s work uses
highly sophisticated technology in the service of complex and poetic investigations of public space, architecture, participation and human agency. In recent years, he has become widely known for creating largescale installations for exhibitions across Europe, Asia and America.
These have included what may be the world’s largest interactive artwork, Vectorial Elevation, in which over a million online participants havedirected searchlights to create ‘light sculptures’ above Mexico City in1999, Vitória in 2002, Lyon in 2003 and Dublin in 2004.
In September 2008 Lozano-Hemmer staged a monumental light-based installation commemorating the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City. Later this year he will mount two more large-scale interactive public artprojects: one in Madison Square Park, New York City, and the other inTrafalgar Square, London. He is also exhibiting at the New Orleans,Seoul and Seville Biennials and is one of four ommissioned artistsselected for Channel 4’s The Big Art project.
