Subtitled Public
Subtitled Public consists of an empty exhibition space where visitors are detected by a computerised surveillance system. When people enter the space, the system generates a subtitle for each person and projects it onto him or her: the subtitle is chosen at random from a list of all the verbs conjugated in the third person. The only way of getting rid of a subtitle is to touch another person, which leads to the two subtitles being exchanged. The project exists in Spanish, English and French versions.
Subtitled Public invades the supposedly neutral and public space of contemplation that exists in museums, underlining the violent and asymmetrical nature of observation. The piece also attempts to highlight the arbitrariness of computerized surveillance systems now used in public and private spaces that attempt to detect suspicious individuals and classify people by ethnic group for example. Finally, the installation is an ironic statement about the era of technological personalisation, literally branding observers and turning them into "thematic individuals".
General info
Exhibitions
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Unstable Presence, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2018.
- The Fifth Floor: Ideas Taking Space, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 2008.
- E-art, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2007.
- Subtitled Public, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City, México, 2005.
- Dataspace, Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain, 2005.
Credits
- Conroy Badger - programming
- Will Bauer, Ana Parga, Maria Parga, Tara DeSimone and Matthew Marino - production support
- Commissioned by the Fundación BBVA-Bancomer in Mexico. Part of the Tate Collection, London.
Bibliography
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer PG", Prepared Guitar, Madrid, Spain, January 13th 2015 (english). Text of 43 pages. (Website)
- "Technology a 'work of art' at the'Haunted Mansion'", Hurriyet Daily News, Istanbul, Turkey, September 19th 2013 (english). Text of 3 pages. (Newspaper)
- "Creativo: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", Utopolis, Granada University, Granada, Spain, February 21st 2013 (español). Text of 1 page. (Website)
Disembodied Presence: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer interview., Neural Issue 26, Bari, Italy, 2006 (english). Text of 4 pages. (Magazine)
- Andersson, Cecilia, Entrevista: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Exit Express, Madrid, Spain, November 2007 (español). Text of 4 pages. (Magazine)
- Apisdorf Soto, Ximena, "La confluencia del testimonio de un testigo independiente: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer en el MUAC", Centro Público, México, February 22nd 2016 (español). Text of 3 pages. (Website)
- Baillargeon, Stéphane, "Le globe-trotter des arts", Le Devoir, Montréal, Québec, Canada, May 14th 2007 (français). Text of 2 pages. (Newspaper)
Bullivant, Lucy, Responsive Environments ‒ Architecture, Art and Design, V&A Contemporary, London, United Kingdom, 2006 (english and italiano). Text of 5 pages. (Book)
- edited by Ulrik Ekman, "Throughout: Art and culture Emerging with Ubiquitous Computing", The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, 2013 (english). Text of 10 pages. (Book)
Fernández, María, "Transnational culture at the End of the Millennium.", Cosmopolitanism in Mexican Visual Culture, University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, United States, 2014 (english). Text of 28 pages. (Book)
Flores, Tatiana, "The Historical (Self-) Conciousness", ArtNexus, Vol.7, No.71, Madrid, Spain, May 2010 (english). Text of 5 pages. (Magazine)
- Gladman, Randy, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Contemporary 21, Miami, Florida, United States, 2008 (english). Text of 4 pages. (Magazine)
- Laurenson, Pip, "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Interview by Pip Laurenson", The fifth floor: Ideas taking space, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 2009 (english). Text of 3 pages. (Book)
- Lozada, Príamo, Dataspace Arte Electrónico, MÉXICO EN ARCO '05, Madrid, Spain, (español). Text of 1 page. (Book)
- MacMasters, Merry, "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer mostrará cinco instalaciones en la Galería OMR - Cámaras de videovigilancia orwelliana, tema central de una exposición", La Jornada de enmedio, Mexico City, México, November 2nd 2004 (español). Text of 1 page. (Newspaper)
Ozog, Maciej, "Surveilling the surveillance society: the case of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's installations", Conspiracy dwellings: Surveillance in Contemporary Art, Newcastle, United Kingdom, 2010 (english). Text of 7 pages. (Book)
- Ravetto, Kriss, "Shadowed by Images: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and the Art of Surveillance", Representations 111, United States, 2010 (english). Text of 23 pages. (Magazine)
- Redfern, Christine, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Contemporary 21 ‒ special issue on digital art, no. 91, 2007 (english). Text of 3 pages. (Magazine)
- Redfern, Christine, "Noise Makers 2007 - Follow the searchlight", Mirror, Montréal, Québec, Canada, January 4th 2007 (english). Text of 1 page. (Magazine)
Sánchez Balmisa, Alberto, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, 100 Artistas Latinoamericanos ‒ Latin American Artists, Madrid, Spain, 2006 (english and español). Text of 3 pages. (Book)
Walder, Paul, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: fragmentos de un código fuente. Rafael Lozano Hemmer: fragments of a source code., Art.es, Spain, 2012 (english and español). Text of 34 pages. (Magazine)