#rafael lozano-hemmer
Started in 2020 by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer after having COVID-19 himself, this ongoing exhibition visualizes and memorializes the extraordinary loss caused by COVID-19.
During a time when distance and stillness halted public rituals of mourning, “A Crack in the Hourglass, An Ongoing COVID-19 Memorial” continues to provide a virtual and physical space to mourn loved ones lost to the pandemic.
In this participatory artwork, a modified robotic plotter deposits grains of hourglass sand onto a black surface to recreate the images of those lost due to COVID-19. After each portrait is completed, the surface tilts and the same sand is recycled into the next portrait, echoing the collective and ongoing nature of the pandemic.
Participate and learn more about this exhibition.
“The experience of grief and of mourning is cultural, it’s personal, and it looks very different for different people,” says Adjoa Jones de Almeida, Deputy Director for Learning and Social Impact at the Brooklyn Museum.
Art is an expression that connects our heart to our minds. Adjoa speaks to the ways that artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer fuses emotion, action, humanity, and technology in “A Crack in the Hourglass, An Ongoing COVID-19 Memorial.”
On April 23 from 3–6 pm, this exhibit will be part of “Imagine Repair”, hosted by The Zip Code Memory Project at The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. While celebrating of the power of community and care demonstrated by NYC neighborhoods unequally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, attendees are invited to join in a satellite installation of “A Crack in the Hourglass” by adding portraits and stories of their lost loved ones to the exhibit’s online archive.
How can we visualize the extraordinary loss of life caused by COVID-19?
Media artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, whose work is on view in our special exhibition “A Crack in the Hourglass, An Ongoing COVID-19 Memorial,” is joined by architect Sekou Cooke and Paul Farber, director of Monument Lab, to discuss the ways in which art and design facilitate spaces for mourning and cultural trauma.
Join us for #BkMTalks on May 26 at 7 pm. ASL interpretation will be provided. Event information and tickets are available here: https://bit.ly/3MHyqDF
Installation view, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: A Crack in the Hourglass, An Ongoing COVID-19 Memorial, Brooklyn Museum, October 29, 2021 - June 26, 2022. (Photo: Jonathan Dorado)
Post link
