Recorders: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Manchester Art Gallery, 18th September-30th January 2011, Tel: 0161 235 8888
It is Manchester's turn to host the electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Twice awarded a Bafta for interactive art, he is perhaps most famous in this country for Under Scan, in which video portraits of anonymous people were projected onto the ground of Trafalgar Square, and then drowned in light so that the portraits only appeared in the shadows of passersby.
Now, as part of the city's bid to become the digital culture capital of Britain, Manchester Art Gallery is opening "Recorders," a solo exhibition of interior installations by the Mexican-Canadian scientist-turned-artist. Lozano-Hemmer uses digital media to invite the audience to influence the unfolding artwork with their voices, movements or even heartbeats. This show includes seminal pieces such as Pulse Room, a room full of lightbulbs flashing on and off in a rhythm dictated by the recorded pulse rates of the audience.
A new installation, People on People, involves computerised surveillance cameras filming the audience and then projecting back their video portraits into the shadows of the surrounding and subsequent audience. Whether this is an incitement to mass narcissism ("the best artwork is one that includes me!"), a celebration of digital connectivity, or a stark warning about the surveillance society, only your experience will tell.
Emma Crichton-Miller is an arts writer
It is Manchester's turn to host the electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Twice awarded a Bafta for interactive art, he is perhaps most famous in this country for Under Scan, in which video portraits of anonymous people were projected onto the ground of Trafalgar Square, and then drowned in light so that the portraits only appeared in the shadows of passersby.
Now, as part of the city's bid to become the digital culture capital of Britain, Manchester Art Gallery is opening "Recorders," a solo exhibition of interior installations by the Mexican-Canadian scientist-turned-artist. Lozano-Hemmer uses digital media to invite the audience to influence the unfolding artwork with their voices, movements or even heartbeats. This show includes seminal pieces such as Pulse Room, a room full of lightbulbs flashing on and off in a rhythm dictated by the recorded pulse rates of the audience.
A new installation, People on People, involves computerised surveillance cameras filming the audience and then projecting back their video portraits into the shadows of the surrounding and subsequent audience. Whether this is an incitement to mass narcissism ("the best artwork is one that includes me!"), a celebration of digital connectivity, or a stark warning about the surveillance society, only your experience will tell.
Emma Crichton-Miller is an arts writer
