Pulse Topology, an interactive light and sound art installation, was open to the public at the Bentway in Toronto from October 2 to October 31, 2021. The exhibition, by Mexican-Canadian media artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, just premiered in Canada for the first time.
The artwork was displayed in an enclosed storage chamber under the Gardiner Expressway, offering an intimate sensory experience for visitors. Over 3,000 lightbulbs were suspended from the ceiling, filling up the dark interior. They oscillated in the shape of natural sine waves that resembled an electrocardiogram.
“When I listened to the sound of the heartbeats mixing with the noises from the road above, I felt like I was a foetus in a womb,” said Yasin Tuna Kursunlu, a pianist studying at UofT. “The lightbulbs flashed on and off, and I felt like I was witnessing the birth and death of my ancestors, my relatives, and the extended members of the human family. I felt present and alive.”
Visitors’ heartbeats were recorded and played back in real-time. A sensor detected their pulses using touchless biometric technology. When hands were placed under a lightbulb, the lightbulb would react by changing its rhythm of blinking according to the pulse. The immersive artwork gathered new and familiar people, turning their heartbeats into a collective harmony.
On the other side of the chamber was a timeline of artworks related to heartbeats, illuminating the dark. Lozano-Hemmer curated the list to show the development and innovation in the ways artists use technology to represent and interact with the human pulse. His work has been featured in exhibitions across the globe, including the Venice Biennale.
“It was like musical instruments far from each other all playing at the same time,” Kursunlu said. “The viewers stand at different spots, so they would hear something distinct from the same body of sounds, like billions of foetuses in a womb hearing their mother’s heartbeats.” Kursunlu told me this experience has inspired him to incorporate the concept of heartbeats in a new song he is composing.
“It’s a merge of art and technology,” said Tiffany Cheung, an art enthusiast. “I’m immersed in the lights, which surround me in a galaxy of stars. Since COVID, I feel like everyone’s so distanced, and this art piece pulls us closer. The people at the exhibit are within each other’s heartbeats. It’s such a beautiful sensation to hear and to see the lights dancing to heartbeats.”
The Bentway and Exhibition Place collaborated with CAMH to honour health care workers from across the city. The frontliners were invited to the exhibition, and their heartbeats were added to the database, celebrating the positive effects of public art on community health and wellbeing.
The rhythm of heartbeats and light evolved over time, inviting viewers to come back and experience it again, and again.
