Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at the Barbican

On Sunday morning I went along to see the exhibition at the Barbican Curve gallery by Mexican artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. This is the eight site specific installation it has hosted but this was my first visit.

His work 'Frequency and Volume' is an interactive pieces featuring 48 radios, which can all be tuned to different channels simultaneously. As you begin to walk through the gallery powerful lights project your shadow on to the opposing large curved wall. By changing your position you influence the frequency that the radios are tuned to. This is then broadcast at loud volume throughout the room. The frequency is also projected on to the wall, occasionally along with the name of the station.

It was fairly quiet while I was there (sometimes I was the only person there), although I still occasionally could hear frequencies being generated from the movements of others further down the curve.

I managed to pick up the following stations/frequencies: 'Meteor Burst Data' (click here to find out what this is), 'Bus Despatch', air traffic control, emergency services, BBC Radio 1 and Classic FM.

I thought it was another great interactive exhibition overall (after seeing Cildo Meireles only days earlier). The conflicting and seemingly random frequencies can be quite funny, pirate radio stations and distorted static, occasionally being interupted by fragments of a popular song being played by some commercial radio station.