‘Tape Recorders’ is an interactive installation by Lozano Hemmer that tracks the time spent by an observer in the installation using measuring tapes.

Art is such an immersive experience that it can take the viewer through flights of deep introspection and reflection. A great piece of art can’t be fully decrypted at the first viewing; most artworks are never understood at first glance and hence require the viewer’s full cognition. People tend to spend lots of time deciphering a painting or sculpture to try to reason out its meaning and essence. This obviously applies to real art appreciators and not the wannabes who spends time fleetingly at art gatherings. ‘Tape Recorders’, a subsculpture by Lozano Hemmer, measures the time spent by an audience viewing his art piece.

‘Tape Recorders’ contains a row of motorized measuring tapes that record the amount of time a person spends in the interactive installation. This time span is recorded in the subsculpture ‘Tape Recorders’ using a computerized tracking system (proximity sensors could have also done the trick eh?) that detects the presence of individuals. The measuring tape closest to a person starts to unfurl and grows upwards with respect to the time that person spends in the installation. Once it is 3 metres high, the tape drops instantly and starts coiling back to its original form. After every hour, the subsculpture prints out the total time spent by everybody present at the installation at that instant.

‘Tape Recorders’ doesn’t try to quantify the time a viewer spends at the interactive art exhibit; it rather shows the intensity of our attention span before we move to our next object of affection. I’d just stare at the measuring tape, touch the tips of my fingers to my temple and pretend to concentrate. This would give me the feeling that I was controlling the measuring tape with my mind and fulfill my fantasies of being a telekinetic.

‘Tape Recorders’ uses 14 motorized measuring tapes, Kinect tracking systems, cameras, thermal printers, and custom-made hardware and software.  The subsculpture was commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney.

People Viewing Subsculpture 'Tape Measures'

Computer Tracking System for Subsculture 'Tape Measures'

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