bitforms gallery presents its fourth solo exhibition with Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, featuring US premieres of two projects. Voice Array is a participatory environment that debuted at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia. It uses blinking LEDs and customized intercom systems, capturing hundreds of voices and translating each one into a series of light flashes that accumulate horizontally across the installation. When the first voice reaches the opposite end, the phrase releases as sound with synchronized light pulsation. Last Breath is a robotic installation that stores and releases the breath of Cuban singer Omara Portuondo between a set of bellows and a brown paper bag, activated 10,000 times daily. Since the 1990s, Lozano-Hemmer has combined digital media, robotics, medical science, performance art, and lived experience into interactive artworks, emphasizing relationship-specific work through connective interfaces. An opening night performance featured vocal percussionist Rahzel exploring the interface between machines, the body and music with the Voice Array installation.

bitforms gallery
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer