Pulse Park

Rafael LOZANO-HEMMER
© Rafael LOZANO-HEMMER ; Rafael LOZANO-HEMMER

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

Pulse Park ,
Co-workers & Funding
Conroy Badger — programming
Pierre Fournier, David Lemieux, Natalie Bouchard, Boris Dempsey, Stephan Schulz— Antimodular production
Debbie Landau, Sam Rauch, Jeffrey Sandgrund, Stewart Desmond — Mad Sq. Art production
Scharff Weisberg — Staging

Commissioned by the Madison Square Park Conservancy
Major support for Mad. Sq. Art is provided by Founding Partners Agnes Gund and Anonymous. Substantial support is provided by Jill & Peter Kraus, Leucadia Foundation, and Henry Luce Foundation. Project support is provided by the Toby D. Lewis Trust, Haunch of Venison, bitforms Gallery, OMR gallery, Galerie Guy Bärtschi and the Speyer Family Foundation. This project is supported in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
http://www.lozano-hemmer.com/english/projects/pulsepark.htm
Mnemosyne
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Documents
  • Rafael LOZANO-HEMMER
    Photo by James Ewing.
    image/jpeg
    2700 × 3600
  • Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
    Photo by James Ewing.
    image/jpeg
    2700 × 3600
  • Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
    Photo by James Ewing.
    image/jpeg
    2700 × 3600
  • Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
    Photo by James Ewing.
    image/jpeg
    2700 × 3600
Description
In Pulse Park, evening visitors to Madison Square Park have their systolic and diastolic activity measured by a sensor sculpture installed at the North end of the Oval Lawn. These biometric rhythms are translated and projected as pulses of narrow-beam light that will move sequentially down rows of spotlights placed along the perimeter of the lawn as each consecutive participant makes contact with the sensor. The result is a poetic expression of our vital signs, transforming the public space into a fleeting architecture of light and movement.

Pulse Park is inspired by Roberto Gavaldón’s film “Macario” (Mexico, 1960) in which the protagonist has a hunger-induced hallucination wherein individuals are represented by lit candles, as well as by the minimalist musical compositions of Conlon Nancarrow, Glenn Branca and Steve Riech. Pulse Park is the culmination of a series that Lozano-Hemmer debuted at the 2007 Venice Biennale with Pulse Room.

(Photos by James Ewing.)
Keywords
  • aesthetics
    • installation-based
Technology & Material
Installation Requirements / Space
"Pulse Park" is comprised of a matrix of light beams that graze the central oval field of Madison Square Park. Their intensity is entirely modulated by a sensor that measures the heart rate of participants and the resulting effect is the visualization of vital signs, arguably our most symbolic biometric, in an urban scale.
Exhibitions & Events
Recorders: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Emergentes
Bibliography
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