The first gallery we visited this term on our course together was the 'Recorders' exhibiton at the Manchester Art Gallery which was created by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. When I first walked in I had just walked up the stairs and there was a piece of work where you had to put your finger in this hole and it would take your pulse. There was also a screen of which it had images of your finger-prints. Of course my pulse was a lot faster than normal, as I had just walked up the stairs, but i found it really interesting to see how fast it was going! There were pieces of work that ranged from a conveyor belt scanner which scanned your belongings digitally, microphones that recorded your voice and played other peoples previously recorded voices randomly, lightbulbs that flickered at the feel of your pulse, (using handles to hold onto to record it), and big white screens which had tiny cameras implanted in them that videoed you walking round the room, close vs far, and also in shadows.
Throughout the exhibition, I really enjoyed most of the pieces of work in the way that the audience could interact with the pieces of work to hear, feel, & see the actions of people around them. I really like exhibitions that let you interact with them; it feels a lot more personal. This very much reminded me of the 'Decode' exhibtion around the same time last year in London. I would definately like to visit this exhibition again before it closes, and I should have time as it is on my doorstep!
