Pulse Front
Relational Architecture 12
Pulse Front was a matrix of light over Toronto's Harbourfront, made with lightbeams from twenty powerful robotic searchlights, entirely controlled by a network of sensors that measured the heart rate of passers-by. Ten metal sculptures detected the pulse of people who held them: the readings were immediately converted into light pulses by the computers and also determined the orientation of the beams. The resulting effect was a visualization of vital signs, arguably our most symbolic biometric, in an urban scale. When no one was participating, the matrix showed the heart rate recordings for the last 10 people who tried the interfaces.
General info
Technique:
heart rate sensors, computers, searchlights, dmx distribution and metal stands
Dimensions:
variable
Exhibitions
- Pulse Show, Beall Center, University of California, Irvine, California, United States, 2010 - 2011 (video).
- Pulse Front, Power Plant, Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2007.
- Public art installation commissioned by and premiered at LuminaTO and co-produced with Harbourfront Centre.
Credits
- Conroy Badger - Programming
- Pierre Fournier, Natalie Bouchard, Matt Biederman, Paul Zingrone, Helder Melo - production support
- Westbury National - staging
- Presented by TELUS
Bibliography
- Adams, James, "Eight Canadian visual and media artists win Governor-General Awards", The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, December 3rd 2016 (english). Text of 5 pages. (Newspaper)
- Dinnen, Patrick, "Observations on Eyeo and the psyche of a creative technologist", Patrick Dinnen blog, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 8th 2013 (english). Text of 2 pages. (Website)
Fagone, Chiara, "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: progettare l'imprevedibile designing the unexpected", D-Lux, No. 5, Milan, Italy, April 2009 (english and italiano). Text of 9 pages. (Magazine)
- Gimonnet, Bénédicte, "'Pulse Corniche' seeing through light", Madame Magazine, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 1st 2015. Text of 6 pages. (Magazine)
- Goddard, Peter, "At the Biennale. From our skyline to Venetian back alleys", Toronto Star, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 21st 2007 (english). Text of 1 page. (Newspaper)
- Goddard, Peter, "Deconstructed: Pulse Front. Light up the night to the beat of your heart", Toronto Star, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 31st 2007 (english). Text of 2 pages. (Newspaper)
- McLaren, Leah, "Luminato brings balance to city life", The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 1st 2007 (english). Text of 1 page. (Newspaper)
Rogers, Damian, "Pulse of the city", Eye Weekly, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 31st 2007 (english). Text of 3 pages. (Newspaper)
Walder, Paul, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: fragmentos de un código fuente. Rafael Lozano Hemmer: fragments of a source code., Art.es, Spain, 2012 (english and espaƱol). Text of 34 pages. (Magazine)
- Young, Paul, "Watching the Detectors", Surface Magazine, San Francisco, California, United States, 2007 (english). Text of 2 pages. (Magazine)