Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

Mexican

Born 1967

Lives and works in Montreal, Canada

Raphael Lozano-Hemmer has been experimenting with the technology of surveillance since the early 1990s. As an artist working between media, performance and architecture, he has created numerous large-scale installations in public spaces that invite audience participation. With a background in molecular chemistry, he often solicits biometric data from his audience using various sensors, cameras, robotics, and digital networks, translating these individual markers into a dynamic representation of community.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

Mexican

Born 1967

Lives and works in Montreal, Canada

Raphael Lozano-Hemmer has been experimenting with the technology of surveillance since the early 1990s. As an artist working between media, performance and architecture, he has created numerous large-scale installations in public spaces that invite audience participation. With a background in molecular chemistry, he often solicits biometric data from his audience using various sensors, cameras, robotics, and digital networks, translating these individual markers into a dynamic representation of community.

Thermal Drift Density Map

2022

custom made generative software, computer, thermal camera, display

Dimensions variable

Thermal Drift Density Map is an interactive artwork that visualizes the dispersion of body heat as emissions of thermal energy in the form of slow-moving packets or quanta that flow away from the participant. The project uses a thermal camera to detect heat, and a particle system to visualize its dispersion, while computational image-making reveals the porous boundary between body and environment. Thermal cameras, which are increasingly used in policing and military contexts, illustrate the asymmetrical power structure between observer and those surveilled. In such applications, body heat, an essential human signature and a signal of life, becomes a target. In Thermal Drift Density Map the camera is placed in a more playful environment to illustrate how body temperature can paint portraits.

© 2025 Kanbas. Any images or other visual representations of artworks are © their respective Artist or Estate, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

© 2025 Kanbas. Any images or other visual representations of artworks are © their respective Artist or Estate, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

© 2025 Kanbas. Any images or other visual representations of artworks are © their respective Artist or Estate, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.