Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Interactive Installations to Fill Georgetown University Galleries

Georgetown University Art Galleries will present ‘Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Look Alive,’ an exhibition spanning three decades of the Mexican-Canadian artist’s work across the university’s Maria and Alberto de la Cruz Gallery and Lucille M. & Richard F. X. Spagnuolo Gallery in Washington, DC. The exhibition will run from September 18, 2026, through April 11, 2027, and will include the premiere of ‘Pulse Map’ (2026), a new installation created specifically for Georgetown.

Lozano-Hemmer’s practice brings together contemporary art, architecture, performance and technology through interactive environments that respond to visitors. ‘Look Alive’ focuses on participation, presence and observation, presenting works that change through light, movement, sound and the actions of people in the galleries. The exhibition’s title refers both to the command to pay attention and to the way visitors become visible participants in the works.

At the center of the presentation, ‘Pulse Map’ will occupy the de la Cruz Gallery. The site-specific installation comprises nearly 3,000 polycarbonate lightbulbs arranged in a labyrinthine field that visitors can walk through. The bulbs emit a warm filament glow in sync with the recorded, looping heartbeats of previous participants. Three suspended camera sensors allow visitors to record their own heartbeats, which enter the installation’s archive as older recordings are gradually replaced.

The work turns biometric data into a collective visual and sonic environment while retaining the anonymity of its participants. Georgetown says that the cameras and related systems used throughout the exhibition detect heartbeats, location or silhouettes only to operate the installations. No personally identifiable information is collected, and imagery or data temporarily captured by the systems is continuously overwritten rather than permanently stored or shared.

The Spagnuolo Gallery will examine Lozano-Hemmer’s interest in machine vision and the act of looking. ‘Surface Tension’ (1992), described by the galleries as his earliest interactive work, uses a computer-vision system to make a large human eye follow visitors. ‘Reporters With Borders (Shadow Box 6)’ (2007) presents a changing mosaic of television news anchors from the United States and Mexico, drawn from a database of more than 1,600 video clips. The installation reorganizes itself every five minutes according to categories including gender, race and nationality, while visitors’ silhouettes activate voices within the work.

In January 2027, ‘Reporters With Borders’ will be replaced by ‘Eye Contact,’ an installation in which visitors encounter the recorded gazes of strangers. The works are part of an artistic practice that has used robotics, projections, digital networks, sensors, LEDs and cameras to create participatory environments. Lozano-Hemmer was the first artist to represent Mexico at the 2007 Venice Biennale, and his work is held in collections including those of the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, Tate, the Reina Sofía and the Hirshhorn. An opening reception for ‘Look Alive’ is scheduled for September 18, 2026, from 6 to 8 p.m.