Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Some Things Happen More Often Than All of the Time

This first major monograph on the electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was produced on the occasion of the 2007 Venice Biennale, where Lozano-Hemmer presented six interactive installations--becoming the first artist to officially represent Mexico at the Biennale. Born in Mexico City in 1967, Lozano-Hemmer studied Physical Chemistry at Concordia University in Montreal, and now uses his background in the sciences to create the large-scale, public-space installations for which he is known. Working with the concept of "relational architecture," Lozano-Hemmer's installations employ everything from robotics to sensors to cell phones and video projections to create social situations that alter the ways people relate to urban space. Describing his piece, "Subtitled Public" in an interview in this very nicely designed book, Lozano-Hemmer says, "I look for the 'special defects' that allow me to activate the imperfections, the disruptions; 'to disrupt' seems to be the most precise term for describing what I want to do."