Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pulse Spiral

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Exhibition Card depicting installation view.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has paid a visit to SCAD Savannah's Pei Ling Chan Gallery, located on Martin Luther Kind Blvd!  The work is Pulse Spiral, which is an interesting joining of technology and the human experience.

There are many installation pieces that focus on technology, and how people interact with it, but this is certainly one of the more successful pieces I have seen in a long time.  To describe it a bit, one first enters the gallery's main reception room, and then must immediately enter through the curtain pictured here.

The initial response upon entering the curtain is far more breathtaking.

The spiral is, as Hemmer states on his own site, that the spiral is "a three-dimensional spiral paraboloid made up of 400 lightbulbs arranged according to Fermat's equations".  Of course, one can easlily look up what Fermat's equation is, but to understand it, or even to look at the right one, is a different matter.  Hemmer describes it by saying that the equation is "...an efficient spatial distribution along a surface which is found in plant phyllotaxis (arrangement of leaves and cells in roots for example)."  This is a far more concise way of explaining the concept, rather than stating the actual equation, here.  For those math nerds out there, like myself, check out Wiki's entry on Fermat's spiral.

 The construction of the piece seems utterly complicated, perhaps even as complicated as the mathematics and programming that went into it.  The bulbs are each individually hung, and attached to cables which penetrate four steel sheets on the ceiling.  If one looks up, they can see the cables coursing from the steel plates to a back room, which, when I peeked around the corner, were all plugged into a massive motherboard on the wall.  (I was obviously not allowed to photograph this, sorry!!).  Here rested the brain behind the machine, a vast, interconnected series of plugs and computer bits.  It really looked like a feat to hook up. 

However complicated, what the spiral actually does is record heartbeats.  Essentially, this is how it works:  First, the participant (whoever is in the gallery) takes hold of the specialized monitor, which look like handles.

Then, one holds on to it, until the entire piece goes dim.  When this happens, the single bulb on the bottom begins to pulse, presumably, at the pace of one's own heartbeat.

Then, the piece lights up a second bulb, which I was told is actually the heartbeat of the prior participant.

The piece then begins to light up in a spiral, until the whole thing is alight once more.

The experience is definitely phenomenal.  I even had the chance to lay beneath it while the process started up, and of course, I tried it myself!

Aside from being truly beautiful to look at and watch, I thoroughly enjoyed the interesting aspect of the human machine connection.  Many a time, it seems that artists focus simply on what machines do, or how machines are bad for people, etc.  Rarely is there work that focuses on human and machine (HCI, anyone?) interaction.  Hemmer certainly knows how to put the two together to create one beautiful whole. 

To see a video of the piece, and professional photographs, click here!