I was in Sydney a few days ago and saw an interesting exhibition by Canadian-Mexican artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Recorders is an exhibition that relies entirely on audience participation. There were cameras, microphones, heart rate sensors and all sorts of gadgets which recorded the visitors. The recordings were then displayed immediately and often kept in a database for other visitors to encounter.
The Pulse Room was probably my favourite installation which features 100 incandescent bulbs only activated by a visitor's heartbeat. Other highlights include Tape Recorders; a motion activated row of wall mounted measuring tapes which rose and fell as a viewer walked by them, and Please Empty Your Pockets which scanned, recorded and displayed any items participants wished to place on a conveyer belt.
Overall the show a great experience, even if at times it felt more like a science fair than an art gallery. The feeling you go when you were confronted with the recordings of a previous visitor was almost like a "chat roulette" type experience. The works encouraged interaction and contemplation in a way that made them feel important and included.
If you want to take a peak for yourself here's a link: http://mcarecorders.com.au/works/
The big question is always one of defining where intent and sychronicity meet. To what extent is the artist putting aside responsibility for her or his aesthetic act by making participatory.
ReplyDeleteThis is neither a black or a white statement, it is always a question of degrees and nuances and it is in these spaces that the current discourses around media and technology revolve. Interesting article in this month's Wired magazine on the role of participatory media in the "year of riots" as they so inflammatorily declare.