Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was born in Mexico City in 1967. In 1989 he received a B.Sc. in Physical Chemistry from Concordia University in Montréal, Canada.
Electronic artist, develops interactive installations that are at the intersection of architecture and performance art. His main interest is in creating platforms for public participation, by perverting technologies such as robotics, computerized surveillance or telematic networks. His light and shadow works are inspired by phantasmagoria, carnival and animatronics.
Lozarno-Hemmer's work has been commissioned for events such as the Millennium Celebrations in Mexico, the UN World Summit of Cities in Lyon, the opening of the YCAM Center in Japan, the Expansion of the European Union in Dublin, the memorial for the Tlatelolco Student Massacre in Mexico, the 50th Anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
His kinetic sculptures, responsive environments, video installations and photographs have been shown in museums in four dozen countries. In 2007 he was the first artist to officially represent Mexico at the Venice Biennale with a solo exhibition at Palazzo Van Axel. He has also shown at Art Biennials and Triennials in Havana, Istanbul, Liverpool, Montréal, Moscow, New Orleans, Seville, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. His work is in private and public collections such as MoMA in New York, the Jumex collection in Mexico, MONA in Hobart, the Daros Foundation in Zürich and TATE in London.