Artist Rafael Lozano - Hemmer ( Shim Woo - hyun / The Korea Herald ) Rafael Lozano - Hemmer ‘ s solo exhibition at Amorepacific Museum of Art is an exhibition that brings tangible technologies to the fore . From his early works to his latest , Hemmer plays with various technologies , such as surveillance systems , voice recognition , fingerprint scanner and algorithms to allow the viewers to more easily relate to the technologies that have already become ubiquitous . Numerous technologies have already become part of our language , and there is nothing new about his works , Hemmer said .   “ I think of St . Augustine . The Apocalypse has already happened . I think that when my team and I are working with the stuff , it ‘ s not something about science fiction or a morality tale . It ’ s not a warning and it ‘ s not a prediction . It ’ s more of underlining and making tangible those forces of control and the ubiquity of those elements , ” said Hemmer during an interview with The Korea Herald . “ Pulse Room ” by Rafael Lozano - Hemmer , an interactive installation featuring 240 clear incandescent light bulbs . An interface placed on one side of the room has a sensor that detects the heart rate of participants . ( Shim Woo - hyun / The Korea Herald ) “ Decision Forest ” features a total of 29 works , including five that are being shown for the first time . One of the recent pieces on show for the first time is “ Blue Sun , ” a sphere - shaped display that simulates 25 , 580 Light Emitting Diode lights which reflects the sun ’ s turbulence , flares and spots recently observed by NASA . “ Pareidolium ” -- a low circular fountain that “ draws ” portraits of onlookers in mid - air with plumes of vapor that ascend from a water basin -- is also being shown for the first time . “ Nerd is my reality , ” Hemmer said in talking about his love of adopting mathematics and contemporary technologies for his works . ” We ( my team members ) love algorithms . We honestly and genuinely adore a good algorithm . I think that there is beauty in them . There are behavior , emergence and patterns that can be created with this mathematics that I think all artists should be interested in them . Math is like a beautiful tool to make stuff . As nerds , our biggest interest is the collection of algorithm , so being able to understand them use them and nerd out with them . ” Hemmer invites the viewers to participate in works created with sophisticated technologies and ask them to join other participants , who came before them . “ If there is nobody in the piece , the piece does not exist , ” Hemmer said .   Presence and absence coexist in the works by Lozano - Hemmer . Someone ’ s heartbeat or fingerprint left at the exhibition would still palpitate tomorrow , without the person ‘ s presence . The next day another person would come and listen to the heartbeat that he or she don ’ t know . They share the same space . “ Absence and presence are not mutually exclusive . These are not two concepts . They share the same space , ” Hemmer said . " Last Breath " by Rafael Lozano - Hemmer ( Shim Woo - hyun / The Korea Herald ) While allowing the viewers to participate and have fun , Hemmer ’ s works also reflect critical theories as well as historical and cultural contexts . Hemmer ’ s ” Last Breath “ -- unveiled at the Havana Biennial in 2012 -- is an installation work that plays with technology and cultural contexts . Designed to store and circulate the breath of respected Cuban singer Omara Portuondo , of the Buena Vista Social Club project , the piece magically captures -- or pretends to capture -- the breath of the revered singer in a brown paper bag . ” Last Breath “ is a biometric portrait of a cultural manifestation and also playful statement about death .   Explaining that rations in Cuba came in brown paper bags , Hemmer said , “ It ’ s a very important little bag in Cuba because it ‘ s where you eat . So we took the brown bag and also somebody whose voice everybody recognizes and admires . Then you try to do the impossible . You try to capture the essence of that singing and of that magic that this woman possesses . By sort of pretending that this magic is in her breath , and this can be kept ( in the brown paper bad ) is a designed fiction , ” he said . Adding that the artist had a sense of humor about it , Hemmer quoted a 16 th century French philosopher . “ Montaigne said that ‘ to philosophize is to learn how to die . ’ Art making is the same , ” said Hemmer . Hemmer ’ s 1992 work “ Surface Tension ” makes a connection between French writer Georges Bataille ‘ s Surrealist text “ The Solar Anus ” and the smart bombs used in the first Gulf War . " Surface Tension " by Rafael Lozano - Hemmer ” The particular moment in Bataille that interested me for ‘ Surface Tension ’ was the moment where the perception itself becomes aware . In the 1990 s , there was the very first usage of smart bombs . The idea that the smart bombs had agency , their own perception and their own executive control over their destiny over where their target would be was this autonomy that I found in the Bataille ’ s texts , ” said Hemmer . In “ Surface Tension , ” the eye moves as if it has an awareness of itself . The supposed virtual , which is regarded to be behind the wall or display , is looking into our world . The observers ( viewers ) become the observed , added Hemmer . Hemmer ’ s exhibition “ Decision Forest ” at APMA runs through Aug . 26 . By Shim Woo - hyun ( ws @ heraldcorp . com ) [ 코리아 헤럴드 ] [ K - POP HERALD ] [ 페이스북 ] <ⓒ KoreaHerald ( www . koreaherald . com ) 무단 전재 및 재 배포 금지 >