Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in Manchester

Lozano-Hemmer is an electronic artist, who creates interactive installations that are at the intersection of architecture and performance art. 
His main interest is in creating platforms for public participation. He works to pervert technologies such as robotics, computerized surveillance or telematic networks. His creations are said to be inspired by phantasmagoria, carnival and animatronics. 


I was lucky enough to catch this exhibition today at Manchester Art Gallery. In this explanation of his pieces, it was stated that it "depends on your participation to exist". This seemed to strike a connection for me with Advertising, as if there were no target market or audience, the adverts created would be worthless.


Unfortunately, I was not able to take any photographs of Lozano-Hemmer's work. However, one piece that really pulled me in was one named '33 per Minute' 2000. 
It's a computer program which generates 55 billion grammatically correct questions at a rate of 33 per minute, which is the threshold of legibility. These questions flash up on LED screens on the wall for us to read. The viewer can also type in questions by use of a keyboard connected to the program. 
The software has been programmed to avoid repeating the same question, and would take over 3,000 years to present all the possible word combinations.
In this work it is impossible to determine whether the question presented was posted by the computer or by a person, making it hard for authorities to censor critical content.


As a copywriter, this work interested me as it combines communication and language with science, playing with our own ability to understand so much information in such a time (a minute). It also manages to create a place where anyone can say anything, a place of freedom of speech. It is also similar to the things we are taught as a copywriters, to ensure that we do not confuse our readers, for instance how we should not use more than 65 characters in any line of copy.


A lot of the questions asked are random, but still make sense. 
These are some of the examples I saw:


Shouldn't they bill the computer?
Will we let them stampede the North Pole?
Why doesn't she localise and stay native?
Why do so many lampoon with urgency?


I overheard a little girl say, in reaction to this installation, "It's just like texting". In a way, she is right. Texting is considered such a transient and ephemeral method of written communication but it still holds on to its freedom of speech, free of censorship. 


See more of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's work on his website here


This is a sketch of '33 per Minute', to show how the LED screens were displayed.