Gray Area Grand Theater: SYNC – Rafael Lozano-Hemmer & Eli Keszler

SYNC Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Eli Keszler

For two nights only on April 20 and 21, join us for SYNC, an audiovisual collaboration between Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and percussionist, composer, and artist, Eli Keszler, originally commissioned by Pace Live.
Come experience this special performance amid Lozano-Hemmer’s groundbreaking exhibition TECHS-MECHS, while supporting Gray Area’s year of ACCESS programming.

The evening will open with an artist talk from Lozano-Hemmer, followed by “Sync”, an audiovisual collaboration between Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Eli Keszler, originally commissioned by PACE Live.
A multi-instrumentalist and visual artist, Eli Keszler has previously worked with Kevin Beasley, Oneohtrix Point Never, Skrillex, and more. For “Sync”, Keszler will activate Lozano-Hemmer’s immersive installation “Pulse Topology” with his distinctive drumming style, creating “a morphing geography of light.” Keszler’s performances at Gray Area can be understood as “Beat Minimalism” for the 21st century.
Making its west coast premiere as part of TECHS-MECHS, “Pulse Topology” is a mesmerizing work composed of 3,000 suspended lightbulbs that glimmer in tune with the heartbeats of different participants from the past. Pulse sensors detect and record new heartbeats, which replace the oldest ones, creating a memento mori.

𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: TECHS-MECHS is a tribute to the rich Mexican technological cultural history, and a celebration of San Francisco’s Mission District— a historic center of the city’s Latinx and Mexican-American communities. Since opening two weeks ago, 26% of attendees have been local residents of the Mission District who received free admission through our community program.

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒

𝐄𝐥𝐢 𝐊𝐞𝐬𝐳𝐥𝐞𝐫
A multi-instrumentalist, Eli Keszler has released numerous solo albums, his most recent being ICONS (2021, LuckyMe), and presented his work at The Kitchen in New York; Lincoln Center, the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and other spaces around the world. He has previously worked with Kevin Beasley, Oneohtrix Point Never, Skrillex, and many more artists.

𝐑𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐋𝐨𝐳𝐚𝐧𝐨-𝐇𝐞𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was born in Mexico City in 1967. In 1989 he received a B.Sc. in Physical Chemistry from Concordia University in Montréal, Canada. A media artist working at the intersection of architecture and performance art, Lozano-Hemmer creates platforms for public participation using technologies such as robotic lights, digital fountains, computerized surveillance, media walls, and telematic networks. Inspired by phantasmagoria, carnival, and animatronics, his light and shadow works are “antimonuments for alien agency”.