
FEATURES Pandemic Portraits
A MAKER
FAMILY IN
LOCKDOWN
HELPS TO
ENGINEER A
MEMORIAL
COVID
ARTWORK
In A Crack in the Hourglass, a media artwork by
Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer,
people are invited to submit a photograph and story
of a loved one lost during Covid. Over a period of
about 40 minutes a modified robotic plotter draws
the image of the loved one using hourglass sand.
Once the drawing is complete and after a short
pause, a mechanism gently tilts the platform and
the sand falls away. Then the machine begins to
draw another portrait. The process is broadcast
live, showing the robotic arm drawing