BMW & Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

For Art Basel, Switzerland, Superblue and BMW co-presented the latest biometric artwork by Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. The monumental installation “Pulse Topology” used contactless technology to detect the pulse of visitors and visualize across a grid of pulsating lights. The installation is composed of 6,000 glimmering lightbulbs, suspended at different heights, which create an intimate landscape of crests and valleys that visitors are invited to traverse.

The exhibition was the launch platform of the BMW i7 series. Lozano-Hemmer used the same photoplethysmography technology that activates “Pulse Topology” to transform the interior of the BMW i7 using passengers’ heartbeats. The detected pulses controlled lights and sound via Bluetooth and graphics in the car’s panoramic display. This symbiotic relationship can be seen as an extension of the use of light in the BMW i7 to create a meaningful connection with its driver and passengers, from lights that respond to their presence to different sensory environments that reflect their mindset.