MONTREAL—The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal is hosting the Montreal-based and internationally acclaimed artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Unstable Presence is a major survey of Lozano-Hemmer’s work over the past 18 years, bringing together 21 pieces, including several large-scale immersive installations. In his work, Lozano-Hemmer draws on science, technology, politics, sociology, poetry, music and art history, nourishing a rich conversation with the public.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is a leading international figure in participatory and digital-media practices. He is highly visible on the world stage, where his work is regularly shown in the most prestigious institutions. During the 1990s, he began exploring the performative potential of interaction and, in particular, the integration of various artistic disciplines through technology, which he describes as “the language of our time,” the use of which has become “inevitable.”
The participatory and technological aspects of Lozano-Hemmer’s work are imbued with the notion of co-presence, where live and recorded data overlap. Through the use of microphones, face-recognition algorithms, biometric scanners and computerized surveillance, artworks interact with the visitors in performances that are sometimes both playful and intimate. However, the technology that underlies the interaction often echoes more troubling social, economic and political dynamics.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Unstable Presence is co-organized by the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).
The exhibition will run until September 9, 2018.
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