Recorders: Raphael Lozano Hemmer

Great Electronic Art by Raphael Lozano-Hemmer at the Manchester Art Gallery.

I particularly like the 'Pulse Room' which employs biometric technology to transform the gallery using incandescent light bulbs that visualise your heartbeat. As you hold the metal sculpture, sensors record your pulse, immediately setting off the lightbulb closest to you, which flashes to the exact rhythm of your heart.

And 'People on People': On entry powerful projectors cast your shadow on the wall to create what appears to be a giant shadow-puppet theatre. A portrait gradually emerges inside your silhouette, but the person staring back is not you. Images of other people, gathered by a sophisticated surveillance system, are shown within our shadow and these images become animated and look out at us when they are revealed by the shadows, creating an uncanny and unsettling effect. The portraits that you see are not passive subjects, as they very often are in
traditional portraiture, instead they are looking at you, looking at them.

And 'Autopoesis' is simple but thought provoking.
The term "Autopoiesis" was coined by Chilean biologists Maturana and Varela.
Literally meaning self production or creation, it refers to the way in which living beings are seen as systems that produce themselves, or regenerate, in a ceaseless way. An autopoietic system is at the same time the producer and the product.

"When people look at themselves in this small mirror they see the word "Autopoiesis" projected on their forehead. The concept of self-creation described by Chilean biologists Maturana and Varela is an inspiration for all art that depends on participation to exist."

'Autopoiesis, 2010'Somehow I turn up on the website.

Does this mean I'm a 'Self-made man'?

More about individual pieces here.

Lozzano-Hemmer's website: http://www.lozano-hemmer.com/
Also see the Artsy webpage for lots of further info on Lozano-Hemmer - it provides visitors with Lozano-Hemmer's bio, over 130 of his works, exclusive articles, and up-to-date Lozano-Hemmer exhibition listings. The page even includes related artist & category tags, plus suggested contemporary artists, allowing viewers to continue exploring art beyond the Lozano-Hemmer page.