As spectacular as it is meaningful, Pulse Topology is an immersive biometric artwork consisting of 3,000 suspended light bulbs, each of which glimmers to the heartbeat of different participants. As visitors traverse a series of crests and valleys of pulsing lights at Superblue, sensors detect and record new heartbeats, which replace the oldest ones, creating a memento mori in which the trace of individual heartbeats gains poetic strength as a powerful choir of human connection.
Recognized for his participatory installations, Lozano-Hemmer’s works are activated by participants’ real-time biometric data such as their heartbeats, breaths, voices or fingerprints – pushing the nature of public engagement to its very limits.
Pulse Topology is presented as a collaboration with BMW i, part of a shared vision where art and technology can create unique experiences for reflection, joy, and social connection.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer develops participatory installations at the intersection of architecture and performance art, with a particular interest in radical empiricism and critical social practice. Pushing public engagement to its limits, many Lozano-Hemmer works are activated with viewers’ biometric data such as their heart rate, breath, voice, and fingerprints, measured in real time through sensors, cameras, and microphones.
Once captured, this data is instantly visualized as sequences of pulsating lights, reverberating soundscapes, and rippling waves, but never stored in a collective archive. His practice resonates deeply with today’s growing use of big data for identification and control and interrogates the boundary between anonymity and community.
