Project: Pulse GLOW
Location: Stadhuisplein
Artificial light and projection have been part of most of his large-scale interventions in public space since 1996: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s “relational architectures” are based on custom-made technologies to transform urban spheres. His ephemeral projects visualize inter-activity between sites and their users, staging human qualities of public space in democratic societies. He is creating new socio-cultural experiences replacing the routine narratives of urban environments.
Pulse GLOW is comprised of an array of 100 narrow light columns that vertically illuminate the façade of the Stadhuis’ building. Their intensity is entirely modulated by a sensor that measures the heart rate of participants, so that each spotlight flashes to the rhythm of a different pulse recording. The resulting effect is the visualization of vital signs, arguably our most symbolic biometric, in an urban scale. As a new participant holds the sensor, his or her recording will move to the closest light and push all existing recordings down the row of spotlights on the façade of the building. At any given time, the façade will show the recordings from the most recent 100 participants.
