FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) will openwith “Amodal Suspension”, a new interactive
installation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
From the 1st to the 24th of November 2003, short text messages sent by people overthe Internet or by cell phone will be converted into patterns of flashing lights in the sky,turning the Japanese city of Yamaguchi into a giant communication switchboard. The
piece will be located in the public space around the new YCAM Center and will beaccessible through address www.amodal.net

PROJECT OVERVIEW“Amodal Suspension” will be a large-scale interactive installation where people cansend short text messages to each other using a cell phone or web browser connectedto address www.amodal.net. However, rather than being sent directly, the messages
will be encoded as unique sequences of flashes and sent to the sky with a network of
20 robotically-controlled searchlights.
The signaling will be similar to Morse code or the flashing of fireflies, —the lights will
modulate their intensity to represent different text characters. Each message, once
encoded, will be “suspended” in the sky of the city, bouncing around the YCAM center,relayed from one searchlight to another. An email will be sent to the intended recipient
to notify him or her that “a message is waiting for them in the sky of Yamaguchi”.
Each light sequence will continue to circulate until the recipient or somebody else
“catches” the message and reads it. To catch a text, participants must again use thecell phone or computer programs provided at www.amodal.net. To highlight the ironyof globalization, the piece will employ an automatic translation engine between
Japanese and English, —this will produce inaccurate but charming results.
Once a participant reads a message, it will disappear from the sky and it will be shownbriefly on a large projection on the façade of the YCAM center. The author of themessage will be notified by email, as will the intended recipient. All submissions will belogged at the project website using an online virtual environment that will show them inthree-dimensional patterns of Brownian motion. Visitors will be able to search, sort andnavigate through the archived messages.
“Amodal Suspension” will create an interactive mesh of light over the city, a floating
cloud of data that can be written to and read. The piece will provide a connective
platform in which local residents and remote participants from different regions andcountries can establish ad hoc relationships. While visualizing the traffic of information
on an urban scale, the piece is also intended as a deviation from the assumed
transparency of electronic communication.

AMODAL EVENTS
Amodal Suspension will open at 19:00 Japanese time (10:00 GMT) on November 1st,
2003 with a message sent by astronaut Mamoru Mohri.
A symposium on the project will take place on the 2nd of November at 18:30, featuring
philosopher and author Brian Massumi, Cultural Studies theorist Yoshitaka Mori, project
curators Yukiko Shikata and Abe Kazunao and artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.
Three additional lectures will be presented at YCAM to frame the project:
On November 9th at 14:00, local researcher Shimgo Hirano will speak about fireflies.
On November 15th at 19:00, Akira Suzuki, Professor of Kobe Design University, will
present “Soft Shelter: electronic networks in the city and hand-drawn maps”.
On November 22nd at 19:00, Dr. Jun Tanaka, Professor at the University of Tokyo, will
present “On the history of light in the city”.

AMODAL ACCESS PODS
The following art and technology centers around the World will set-up "Access Pods"
that will offer their visitors an enhanced experience to participate in Amodal
Suspension. Please check with each center to confirm location and opening times.
MACBA, Museu d’Art Contemporani in Barcelona
MARS Lab Fraunhofer Institut für Medienkommunikation in BonnC3 Center for Culture and Communication in Budapest
Fundación Telefónica in Buenos Aires
MIT MediaLab in CambridgeKHM Kunsthochschule für Medien in Cologne
Bauhaus in Dessau
IAMAS Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences in Gifu
ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe
Kyoto Art Center in Kyoto
FACT Film, Art and Creative Technology in Liverpool
Science Museum in London
Ojo Atómico in MadridLaboratorio Arte Alameda in Mexico CitySAT Société des Arts Technologiques in Montreal
Sarai in New Delhi
Eyebeam in New York City
Wood Street Galleries in Pittsburgh
V2_Organisatie in Rotterdam
Itaú Cultural Center in São Paulo
Sendai Mediatheque in Sendai
Art Center Nabi in Seoul
NTT-ICC Inter Communication Center in Tokyo
MeSci National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo
Ontario Science Centre in Toronto
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver
Multimedia Institute in Zagreb

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
“Amodal Suspension” will be the latest in the series of “relational architecture”
installations that Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has designed for cities in Europe and theAmericas for the past seven years. These interactive interventions explore theintersection between new technologies, urban environments and public participation.
This will be Lozano-Hemmer’s largest project to date and his first in Asia. For thisproject he is collaborating with developers from Japan, Canada, China and Spain.
The work of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has received prestigious accolades including theBauhaus Award in Germany, the Golden Nica in Austria, a World Technology Award in
San Francisco and a BAFTA British Academy Award in the United Kingdom. His
installations have been presented in Biennials in Havana, Istanbul, Graz and Liverpool,as well as in museums and festivals worldwide. Using robotics, real-time computer
graphics, positional sound, Internet links, cell phones, ultrasonic sensors, and otherdevices, his pieces aim to reconnect the public sphere with an increasingly alienatingurban condition. His previous projects include the interactive piece “Vectorial Elevation”
www.alzado.net that was commissioned for the millennium celebrations in Mexico City
and received over 800,000 participants from 89 countries. For information, videos anddownloadable pictures of his work please refer to www.lozano-hemmer.com

YCAM ISYCAM is a new type of cultural facility that pursues creative values in art andinformation. Designed by internationally acclaimed architect Arata Isozaki, the YCAM
center will be one of the most ambitious cultural and technological institutions to belaunched in 2003. Other opening events include works by Philippe Decouflé, Iori Nakai,
Dumb Type, Ryoji Ikeda, Exonemo and Makoto Nomura, as well as performances by
Issey Ogata, Angelin Preljocaj, Yoshihide Otomo and Shigehiro Ide.
While basing its activities on art, YCAM explores the trends of the latest media
technologies, which are created in cooperation with education, industry, and science.
Based on accumulation of such activities, the Center produces and shows to the public
mainly artworks and performances. YCAM invites artists both at home and abroad, andprovides them with a site for their experimental ideas and collaborations. Also
encouraged is cooperation with other art centers and cultural organizations around theworld, such as joint productions, and the results will be shown to the public.

Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) opening project"Amodal Suspension – relational architecture 8"
by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Dates: November 1st to 24th, 2003
Venue: YCAM and the central park in Yamaguchi City, in the South West of Japan. The
searchlights will be visible from a 15 Km (10 Mile) radius.
Access: Computers, mobile phones and local access kiosks connected to the webaddress www.amodal.net All the programs in the site have been written in the Java
language and can be run with the vast majority of web browsers and operating
systems. Special “Access Pods” will be installed in several Art and Science centersaround the world, these Pods will feature an enhanced experience and documentationon the project.
Production and organization: YCAM, Yamaguchi City, the Board of Education ofYamaguchi City and Yamaguchi Cultural Promotion Foundation
Support: Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, CanadianEmbassy in Japan, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. and Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.
Credits:
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer — Conception and direction
Yukiko Shikata — Curator
Kazunao Abe — YCAM Curator
Conroy Badger, Motoi Ishibashi, Jennifer Laughlin, Emilio López-Galiacho, Shiro
Yamamoto, Chong Zhang — Programmers
Miki Fukuda — Project manager
Shiro Yamamoto — Technical manager
Yumico Cotaki, Chiaki Sakaguchi — Press
Daiya Aida — Education Program
Rie Yamasaki — Administration
Will Bauer, Jack Calmes, Olaf Pöttcher, Hiroshi Kanechiku — Production supportKatsuhisa Nomura — Designer
Shosuke Fukuda — YCAM Director
PRESS CONTACT
Ms. Yumico Cotaki, email: yumico@amodal.net
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM)
7-7 Nakazono-cho Yamaguchi-city 7530075 JAPAN
tel: +81-83-901-2222 fax: 81-83-901-2216
Web: www.ycam.jp
PHOTOS AND ILLUSTRATIONSHigh-resolution pictures of the project are available for download at the project website
www.amodal.net
High-resolution pictures of previous work by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer are available fordownload at www.lozano-hemmer.com