Paper short abstract:

Thermal imaging visualizes heat through distinct signatures to categorize bodies as normal or abnormal. I argue that Lozano-Hemmer’s Thermal Drift subverts this, depicting thermal dispersion and dynamic, shared contagion rather than discrete sources.

Paper long abstract:

Thermal imaging is a technology that permeates our visual culture in relation to heat and temperature. Originally developed for military purposes, it creates a "visuo-thermal scene" based on the emissivity of bodies within its field. Each body emits a certain level of heat, producing a distinct "thermal signature" that is categorized as either "normal" or "abnormal". In this way, thermography renders heat operational within a social, political, and discursive framework aimed at identifying and managing bodies. This thermal imagery associates intensely hot agents with threats that must be monitored or neutralized. As Nicole Starosielski suggests, thermal images function as vectors of "thermopower" (2021), identifying targets that emit abnormal heat to regulate behavior and limit actions.

However, since every media practice involves a negotiation between the structure of a device and the interacting subject, repeated engagement with technoscientific apparatuses can become "alien" through speculative imaginaries and practices. I argue that this is precisely what Raphael Lozano-Hemmer’s Thermal Drift installation explores. Rather than merely identifying hot bodies against a neutral background, Lozano-Hemmer depicts the dispersion and interpenetration of thermal sources within a material-energetic field. Infrared radiation is represented as quanta, revealing the constant spread of thermal contagion rather than discrete, identifiable sources.