SF’s Mexican Artist Immersive Art Experience (March 16-May 31)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Gray Area is pleased to present TECHS-MECHS: a new survey of ten works by renowned media artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Spanning immersive installations, kinetic sculptures, generative animations, and large-scale shadow theaters, TECHS-MECHS presents canonical works from the artist’s oeuvre alongside a rich chronology of technological cultural history in the artist’s native Mexico.

At the heart of this landmark exhibition is the West Coast premiere of “Pulse Topology” (2021), a monumental, participatory installation that represents the culmination of Lozano-Hemmer’s most celebrated series of works activated by the human pulse, previously shown to great acclaim in Canada, Brazil, Switzerland and other countries. Composed of three thousand suspended light bulbs, each glimmering to the heartbeat of a different participant, the installation creates an immersive chorus of light and sound inspired by the classic Mexican film “Macario” (1960). This exhibition also marks the North American premiere of “Recurrent First Dream” (2022), a generative animation made from the feminist, rationalist poem “Primero Sueño” written by the seventeenth-century Mexican writer Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Recognizing the militaristic origins and policing applications of the technologies he uses, Lozano-Hemmer’s installations grant participants generative agency, thereby offering them the opportunity to subvert the operational logics of control and surveillance. “Inspired by Real Events” (2004) invites visitors to look into a surveillance camera enclosure to view an intervention in Mexico City led by the artist, where volunteers dismantled security cameras in emblematic public places like the Monumento a la Independencia. “Airborne Newscasts” (2013) is a large shadow play that uses the tracked body-heat of visitors to evaporate newscables arriving live from sources such as Notimex, La Jornada, Alternet, Fox News, Reuters and Agencia EFE.

DISCOUNTED ADMISSION

• No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If you are a student or nonprofit worker, or facing financial hardship, we are offering discounts and scholarships. Apply here.

• Admission to TECHS-MECHS is free for residents of San Francisco’s Mission District, a historic center of the city’s Latinx and Mexican-American communities.
Each visiting adult must show a valid photo ID with proof of residency within the Mission District, specifically the zip code “94110” and “94103”.
Visiting adults are limited to six children for free entry. You may not bring out of town guests for free.
The following items or combinations are acceptable:
– A driver’s license or state ID card
– Photo ID plus postmarked envelope, postcard, or magazine label with name and date
– Photo ID plus utility bill (gas/electric/cable), bank statement, or letter from a government agency with name and home address (not a P.O. Box)

• Children aged 4 and under enjoy free admission.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.