Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Preabsence

The first solo exhibition of the Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano – Hemmer in Switzerland will show a selection of his interactive installations and works, which playfully tackle the themes of surveillance, perception and deception. The visual, acoustic and physical traces left by the exhibition goers will be used in his production and the visitors will become a piece of a work.

The show features eleven pieces in a variety of media, from sound-sculptures to data-driven displays. Many of the pieces depend on participation to exist and their content is entirely “crowdsourced”. “PREABSENCE” includes the World premiere of “Redundant Assembly” a reactive display which creates a composite portrait of up to nine public members, and also the European premiere of three other works.

Lozano-Hemmer perverts the intended application of technologies and with them transforms the supposedly neutral exhibition space into a place of social interaction. This endows his works a special magic of their own, or, as he says himself, “… with digital technologies I believe that the aura has returned, and with a vengeance, because what digital technology emphasizes, through interactivity, is the multiplicity of reading, the idea that a piece of art is created by the singular participation of the users.”