Encode/Decode

"Encode/Decode," a generative interactive typographical environment made from the critical essay of Jamaican-British cultural studies scholar Stuart Hall (1932-2014) in which he proposes an encoding/decoding model of communication. Theorizing on how media messages are produced, disseminated, and interpreted in the context of television, Hall offers that audiences can play active roles in decoding messages through their individualized social contexts and may possess the agency to change meaning through collective action. Lozano-Hemmer's constellation of slowly flowing, animated letters arrange themselves through mutual attraction, so that gradually each sentence of Hall's groundbreaking text on bias becomes legible, while the tracked bodies of participants influence the direction of the typographical flow. The piece is displayed on two walls or displays that are at an angle to each other.

General info

French name:

Encoder/Décoder

Year of creation:

2020

Standalone

Technique:

Custom-made generative software, computer, 3D tracking system, display

Room conditions:

Controlled lighting conditions

Dimensions:

Variable (75+screen, 4K)

Weight:

Variable

Keywords:

indoor, non-site-specific, tracker, interactive, projection

Edition:

6 Editions, 1 AP

Treatment

Technique:

Projector, 3D sensor, computer running software written in TouchDesigner

Room conditions:

Controlled lighting conditions

Dimensions:

Two walls of 22 x 50 ft

Keywords:

indoor, non-site-specific, tracker, interactive, projection

Exhibitions

Computational Poetics, Beall Center for Art + Technology, University of California, Irvine, California, United States, 2022 - 2023.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Caudales, Casa de México España, Madrid, Spain, 2022.
Group Presentation, Pace Gallery, Pace Gallery, New York City, New York, United States, 2021.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Cercanía, Arsenal Art Contemporain, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2020.