Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology in Miami is powered by heartbeats

A canopy of light and sound, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology is composed of 3,000 lightbulbs suspended at different heights, powered by the continuous beat of human hearts. The installation, the latest in the Mexican-Canadian artist’s Pulse series, illuminates the Superblue space at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022 in a unique collaboration with BMW i.

Custom-made pulse sensors capture the individual heartbeats of visitors. Each then powers a spectacular light display and a sonic landscape that constantly evolves as people enter and leave the space. It’s an intimate and deeply personal experience that aims to foster human connection, highlighting both the fragility and the joy of living.

Lozano-Hemmer, whose participatory works have previously harnessed artificial intelligence and robotics, has also collaborated with BMW’s engineers and scientists to bring the installation to life within the first-ever fully-electric BMW i7 sedan. 

On view during Miami Art Week 2022, Pulse Topology is part of a series of biometric pieces that Lozano-Hemmer has been making since 2006. The original works featured up to 500 incandescent light bulbs arranged as chandeliers or room arrays. Since then the artist has been experimenting with LED filament technology, making it possible to light thousands of bulbs with very little power.  

‘I decided to create a full landscape with crests and valleys that the visitors would be invited to traverse,’ says Lozano-Hemmer.  ‘The topology is similar to the original inspiration for the piece: a scene in the film Macario (1960), where the protagonist enters the Cacahuamilpa Caves in Mexico and sees every person on the planet represented by a frail flickering candle.’

When he was growing up in Mexico City, Lozano-Hemmer’s parents operated a nightclub, an ongoing influence on his practice. ‘I always say that my work is incomplete. As an artist (or a nightclub owner) you can create the platform, the context, and the ambience, but your effort is only really successful when the public takes it over and self-represents. I think some people in Miami will see my work as a continuation of nightlife's flashy aesthetics of spectacle; I'm really fine with that. But I do hope that more people see it as a reflective work, one that makes tangible the intimate rhythms that keep us alive, underlining the fragility of it all, and at the same time, the feeling of being included, even if it is just in a temporary womb-like choir.’

Seeing visitors react to the installation has been both revelatory and uplifting. ‘Originally I thought the project would be quite mournful, like a memento mori that reminds you that your heartbeat will only complete a relatively small amount of cycles. But we are seeing many other reactions: some find it romantic to add their heartbeat next to their loved one, others meditate to slow down their pulse and calm the whole environment, and others feel unease as their arrhythmia becomes shared in light and sound. The project is open to interpretation and I am happy not to be able to predict public reactions.’

At the heart of it all, Lozano-Hemmer wants to create a sense of community and meaningful connection. ’The great American composer Frederic Rzewski said that people “coming together” was the most important objective of art,’ he says. ‘After social distancing and Zoom fatigue, it is critical to re-embody our social space.’

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Pulse Topology runs until 4 December 2022 bmw.co.uk;superblue.com