Vectorial Elevation, Relational Architecture 4

From Rhizome Artbase
2001
Description

Vectorial Elevation was an interactive, public installation that allowed anyone to transform a city skyline by submitting designs of light sculptures on the project website. Submissions were rendered by direct, powerful light beams in the city, filmed by webcam, and documented online, engaging a virtual audience alongside city residents. Vectorial Elevation has been shown in Mexico City, Lyon, Dublin, and Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Rhizome staff
2021

Vectorial Elevation was a large scale interactive installation that transformed Mexico City's historic centre using robotic searchlights controlled over the Internet. The site provides documentation of the project.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
10 September 2001

"Vectorial Elevation" is an interactive art project originally designed to celebrate the arrival of the year 2000 in Mexico City's Zócalo Square. The website www.alzado.net enabled any Internet user to design light sculptures over the city's historic centre, with eighteen searchlights positioned around the square. These searchlights, whose powerful beams could be seen within a 15 kilometers radius, were controlled by an online 3D simulation program and visualised by digital cameras. A personalised webpage was produced for every participant with images of their design and information such as their name, dedication, place of access and comments.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
10 September 2001

Vectorial Elevation was a large scale interactive installation that transformed Mexico City's historic centre using robotic searchlights controlled over the Internet. Visitors to the project web site could design ephemeral light sculptures over the National Palace, City Hall, the Cathedral and the Templo Mayor Aztec ruins.Using a three dimensional interface this web site allowed you to design a light sculpture with 18 robotic searchlights located around the Plaza. A web page was made for each participant with photos from 3 webcams. The piece was unplugged on the 7th of January, 2000, after receiving hundreds of thousands of visits from 89 countries and all the regions of Mexico.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
10 September 2001
Legacy descriptive tags
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Kimihiko Sato, Emilio L, Kelly Myers, Dragos Ruiu, Crystal Jorundson, Will Bauer, Conroy Badger, Zocalo Square, Mexico City, Mexico, 4th piece in the
Telematic, Participatory, Event, Database, contextual, Third World, surveillance, public space, performance, globalization, design, colonialism, archive, access, VRML, QuickTime, Perl, Javascript, Java, HTML, email, Virtual, video
Attribution: Rhizome staff
Metadata
Variant History
outside link
2001
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer