Wavefunction
Subsculpture 9
Wavefunction is a kinetic sculpture comprised of fifty to one hundred Charles and Ray Eames moulded chairs (designed in 1948) and placed in a regular array of rows, facing the entrance to the exhibition space. When someone approaches the work, a computerised surveillance system detects their presence and the closest chairs automatically begin to lift off the ground, creating the crest of a wave that then spreads over the whole room. A system of electromechanical pistons raises each chair forty centimetres from the ground. The pistons are controlled by a computer that runs the mathematics of fluid dynamics, thus making the waves interfere with each other, creating turbulence or becoming calm, just like real water.
The idea of a 'function' as a field for artistic experimentation is a motivation for this piece. Other references include: the mathematics of dynamic systems, capable of generating complex non-linear, behaviours, the materialisation of surveillance and turbulence and the anti-modular reinterpretation of the work of modern designers such as Charles and Ray Eames.
General info
Fifty chairs version
100 chairs version
Exhibitions
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Decision Forest, Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea, 2018.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Wavefunction, Subsculpture 9, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 2017.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, bitforms gallery, New York City, New York, United States, 2008.
- Wavefunction, Kulczyk Foundation, Poznan, Poland, 2008.
- Some Things Happen More Often Than All Of The Time, Mexican Pavilion, 52 Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 2007.
Credits
- Conroy Badger - programming
- Gideon May - simulation
- Pierre Fournier, David Lemieux, Natalie Bouchard, Boris Dempsey, Paul Duchaine, Sandra Badger, Stephan Schulz, Olfa Driss, Guy Bärtschi and Justine Durrett - production
- Vitra - production support
- Commissioned for the Mexican Pavilion, 52nd Biennale di Venezia, 2007
Bibliography
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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)
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