Pulse

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Val and I were in Washington, D.C. for a week. He attended a training course in the city and I was on vacation mode, fresh from boot camp. I was so happy because this trip made one of my wishes true: I got to visit the Smithsonian!

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Hirshhorn Museum. One of the more disturbing art installations I've seen on this trip is Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Pulse Index. It's an immersive piece which invites the audience to have their fingerprint scanned and their heart rates converted into a wave image. The last 10,000 fingerprints are projected on a huge screen and the latest fingerprint and heart rate are the biggest image. I did not want to have my fingerprint scanned here so I moved on.


But his other installation, Pulse Tank, was more relaxing. It invites the audience to put their finger on a sensor and the pulse it detects sends ripples onto the water in a tank. The ripples are then projected onto a screen for the rest of the audience to see. 

The last installation, Pulse Room, is filled with light bulbs that pulsate based on the heartbeats of audiences willing to be strapped to a heart monitor. It reminded me of yet another SFMOMA art installation that involved incandescent light bulbs suspended in a dark room.

I'd say that Lozano-Hemmer's installations are my highly recommended exhibits in the Hirsshorn Museum. I just have to say that though I am not a big fan of modern art, his works made a lasting impression on me. 

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