Connection is at the core of human experience. All traditional cultures have had their spaces of ‘communion’ - of coming together and sharing. These sacred spaces were intensely personal, yet became a focal space to gather and connect.

Through our art installation “Pulse and Bloom,” we want to use technology to make our inner invisible worlds more visible. Using visual representations of our inner state, we aim to create group experiences of magical synchronicity that make us more aware as individuals and more connected as a community.

Remembering the ancient philosophers and mystics that spoke of the human heart as the vehicle for union between individual and environment, we wish to recreate this experience through modern heart-quantifying biosensors embedded within public art. Scientific studies show that people who spend a few moments connecting with each other, in time can sync their heartbeats to one another. We’d like to see if having public art as a mirror for this can enable people to connect better and with minimal barriers.

We believe technology can augment our emotional connection with others. When we visualize our heartbeats, we temporarily break the barriers of biology and share something previously hidden about ourselves. By reducing ourselves to our most basic and primal rhythms, we enter as equals on a platform on which to merge and transcend our individual boundaries. By connecting our hearts, we soften the edges of individual difference and create shared experience.