Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at Pace Gallery

In the middle of Chelsea’s bustling Pace Gallery, it comes as a surprise to hear your own heartbeat filling the cavernous room housing Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive installation ‘Pulse Topology.’  Placing your hand under one of three small monitor suspended from the ceiling not only broadcasts the sound of your heartbeat but translates it into flashing lights in one of thousands of lightbulbs suspended in an undulating pattern from the ceiling.  Though essential to life, we often take our beating hearts for granted; making them the focus of an artwork not only flips interior functions to the exterior, it speaks to something visitors have in common.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 22nd).

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Pulse Topology, 2021, 3,000 LED filament lightbulbs, DMX controllers, custom-made photoplethysmography sensors, computers, covers any area between 1,000 and 5,000 square feet.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at Bitforms

A plano-convex lens dangling under three projectors creates a mesmerizing, constantly shifting pattern of light on the walls in Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s latest solo show at Bitforms.  In advance of a major exhibition of his interactive environments at the Hirshhorn this fall, the artist’s current exhibition tantalizes with small scale pieces from the past few years that evoke wonder at the intersection of technology and the natural world. (On view on the Lower East Side through Oct 21st).

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Semioptics for Spinoza, projection version, computer, 3D sensor, projectors, metal bracket, motor, Arduino processor, lens, dimensions variable, 2012.