Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: A Crack in the Hourglass, An Ongoing COVID-19 Memorial. Brooklyn Museum

How can we memorialize and visualize the extraordinary loss of life caused by COVID-19, even as it continues to rage throughout the world? Media artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (born in Mexico City, 1967) responds with A Crack in the Hourglass, a transitory “anti-monument” to the pandemic and the ways it has halted public rituals of mourning. In this participatory artwork, a modified robotic... Show more

How can we memorialize and visualize the extraordinary loss of life caused by COVID-19, even as it continues to rage throughout the world? Media artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (born in Mexico City, 1967) responds with A Crack in the Hourglass, a transitory “anti-monument” to the pandemic and the ways it has halted public rituals of mourning. In this participatory artwork, a modified robotic plotter deposits grains of hourglass sand onto a black surface to recreate the images of those lost due to COVID-19. After each portrait is completed, the surface tilts and the same sand is recycled into the next portrait, echoing the collective and ongoing nature of the pandemic.