Pulse Park
Relational Architecture 14
“Pulse Park” (Relational Architecture 14) was originally exhibited at Madison Square Park, New York City, "Pulse Park" is comprised of a matrix of light beams that grazed the central oval field of Madison Square Park, New York City. The intensity of each spotlight is entirely modulated by a sensor that measures the heart rate of participants. The resulting effect is a visualization of the body's vital signs, arguably our most symbolic biometric, at an immense scale and in an urban setting.
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" (México, 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 Reich. “Pulse Park” is the culmination of a series that Lozano-Hemmer debuted at the 2007 Venice Biennale with “Pulse Room.”
Madison Square Park
Wallpaper report
Flickr images
Youtube's videos
Artsyferret
Observer
Control Geek
CBC
Print
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" (México, 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 Reich. “Pulse Park” is the culmination of a series that Lozano-Hemmer debuted at the 2007 Venice Biennale with “Pulse Room.”
Madison Square Park
Wallpaper report
Flickr images
Youtube's videos
Artsyferret
Observer
Control Geek
CBC
General info
Spanish name:
Parque de Corazonadas
Year of creation:
2008
Installation
Exhibitions
- Ruhr Triennal, Jahrhunderthalle Park, Bochum, Germany, 2012.
- Madison Square Park Spring Party and auction, Madison Square Park Conservancy, New York City, New York, United States, 2011.
- Pulse Show, Beall Center, University of California, Irvine, California, United States, 2010 - 2011.
- Transition States, Haunch of Venison, New York City, New York, United States, 2009.
- Pulse Park, Madison Square Park, New York City, New York, United States, 2008.
Credits
- Programming: Conroy Badger
- Production Assistance: Pierre Fournier, David Lemieux, Natalie Bouchard, Boris Dempsey, Stephan Schulz
- Production, Mad. Sq. Art: Debbie Landau, Sam Rauch, Jeffrey Sandgrund, Stewart Desmond
- Staging: Scharff Weisberg
- 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, Henry Luce Foundation
- Project support is provided by: The Toby D. Lewis Trust, Haunch of Venison, bitforms Gallery, OMR gallery, Galerie Guy Bärtschi, the Speyer Family Foundation
- This project is supported in part with public funds from: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
Bibliography
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer PG." Prepared Guitar, 13 Jan. 2015. Madrid, Spain, 2015. (english) (Websites)
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, PulsePark, Relational Architecture, 2008." SPASS, Feb. 2014. Manno, Switzerland, 2014. (italiano) (Websites)
- Anstead, Alicia. "Special effects." Inside Arts, Jan. 2009. Washington, D.C., United States. (english) (Magazines)
- Arozqueta, Claudia. "En la mira: reflectores, arte y vigilancia." Campo de Relámpagos, 31 July 2016. Spain, 2016. (español) (Websites)
- Bauman, Emily. "Taking the pulse, 200 hearts at a time." Fnews magazine, Feb. 2009. Chicago, Illinois, United States. (english) (Magazines)
- Caplan, Cathy. "Reviews: Heart Lights." Millennium film journal, No.52, 2010. New York City, New York, United States. (english) (Magazines)
- Croci, Valentina. "Relational Interactive Architecture." Architectural Design Territory, May 2010. London, United Kingdom, 2011. (english) (Magazines)
- Druckrey, Timothy. "Bodies, voices, pulses, traces, profanations...." Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Recorders, exhibition catalogue, Manchester Art Gallery, 2010. Manchester, United Kingdom. (english) (Books)
- Dykstra, Jean. "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Anti-Monuments." Pioneer Works, 20 Jan. 2022. Brooklyn, New York, United States, 2024. (english) (Websites)
- Ellwood, Mark. "America's best public art for summer 2015." Bloomberg Business, 6 Apr. 2015. New York City, New York, United States, 2015. (english) (Websites)
- Ellwood, Von Mark. "New York: The next level." Sotheby's Magazine, 8 Oct. 2015. New York City, New York, United States, 2016. (english) (Magazines)
- Feireiss, Lukas and Suater, Joachim. "A Touch of Code: Interactive Installations and Experiences." Gestalten, 2011. Berlin, Germany. (english) (Books)
- Fortin, Sylvie. "Artists Reclaim the Commons: New Works / New Territories / New Publics." ISC Press, 2013. Hamilton, New Jersey, United States. (english) (Books)
- Gimonnet, Bénédicte. "'Pulse Corniche' seeing through light." Madame Magazine, 1 Jan. 2015. Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2015. (Magazines)
- Ross, Christine. "Spatial Poetics: The (Non) Destinations of Augmented Reality Art." Afterimage, 2010. Rochester, New York, United States, 2011. (english) (Magazines)
- Siegel, Miranda. "The Annotated Artwork: 'Pulse Park'." New York magazine, 27 Oct. 2009. New York City, New York, United States. (english) (Magazines)
- Turu, Pilar. "Tecnología que asombra: Las instalaciones de Rafael Lozano-Hemmer." Cultura Colectiva, 3 Apr. 2015. México, 2015. (Websites)
- Vogel, Carol. "Inside Art - Art in a heartbeat." The New York Times, 19 Sep. 2008. New York City, New York, United States. (english) (Newspapers)
- Walder, Paul. "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: fragmentos de un código fuente. Rafael Lozano Hemmer: fragments of a source code." Art.es, 2012. Spain. (english and español) (Magazines)
- Young, Lauren. "Watch lights in Madison Square Park pulse to heartbeats." Atlas Obscura, 14 Feb. 2017. New York City, New York, United States, 2017. (english) (Websites)
Photo Library (click to expand)