The Heart Conversation
Heart Variations
Covalence
Nest
Breath Lantern
Prometheus Cube
The Heart Conversation, built for the 2015 Burning Man festival, grew out of the earlier Heart Variation installations. Each participant controlled the lighting and audio for the other isolation booth with their heartbeat, creating a feedback loop of internal states. The installation was powered by solar energy.
The Heart Variations are a series of installations which use heartbeats from participants as art material. The installations manifest in multiple forms - as sculptural lamps, tables, and isolation booths - that illuminate and create tones with each pulse of a participant’s heartbeat.
Each installation probes a different mode of communication via internal states by changing orientation of participants; versions highlighted individual experience and introspection, playfulness as individual and group, and eventually, a two person meditation.
Covalence, 2013
Covalence is a three tiered art project that examines the interactions between people that comprise a larger social organism. Over 1000 tokens have been distributed with the intent of being re-gifted multiple times. The token acts as both a symbol of gratitude for each interaction, as well as a prompt to share reflections upon the interaction via website or voicemail.
The stories gathered create content for the gallery presentation of the piece. Via social interaction tracked by infrared camera and encouraged through responsive visuals, the audience triggers these gathered stories; thus, in engaging the social organism the audience is given insights into the social organism.
Visit socialvalence.com to see continually updated stories from Covalence.
The following documentation excerpt is from the Columbia College Chicago 2013 Thesis Exhibition:
Nest is a meditatively built environment, using repetitive building movements and natural materials such as rope, wood, and stone. The installation build lasted 24 hours, during which the public was invited to inhabit the nest environment as their own, and contemplate the progressive growth of the structure over multiple visits.
Breath Lantern, 2011-2012
Breath Lantern is a group meditative act where participants built a lantern in a
dark room, by breathing silent intentions into balloons with lights inside of them.
The balloons gave shape to the lantern sculpture, becoming a focal gathering
point in the darkness.
The Prometheus Cube is a video art installation presented at the Burning Man festival,
incorporating video, audio, and storytelling to explore modern mythologies. The
installation was powered entirely by solar energy.