heART pod

The Vision 👀

Interactive anatomical heart shelters that connect people to each other through experiencing the live heartbeats of one other. Using sensory responsive lights and audio, this art installation will audibly and visually exhibit the rhythm of a person’s heartbeat.

The heart shelter (”pod”) will fit at least 3-4 people standing. From the centre ceiling of the pod will hand a dangling stethoscope, inviting people to put the bell to their heart. Once the a heartbeat is detected, the lights on inside and outside of the pod will thump to mimic the heartbeat and the heartbeat will be broadcasted through speakers on the external and internal structure of the pod.

We will first focus on building the first “pod”, which will serve as the template to construct consecutive pods. In the greater vision, these pods will be placed near each other in a given space and interact with one another when they are “activated” by a person putting a stethoscope hanging form the middle of the heart pod, to their own heart. When more than one pod is a “activated”, these pods will connect through a string of light from one heart pod to another.

Body as Community Series

heaRT Pod is part of larger art series called Body as Community. The Body as Community project exists to evoke empathy and affinity in people with themselves and others through experiencing their own body as a community. The heART Pod portion of the projects serves as the starting “node” of the project. The final version of the heART Pod project will be a display of several interactive anatomical heart shaped shelters where people inside the shelters can visually and audibly experience each others’ heartbeats with the use of a stethoscope, lights and sound systems. These shelters (let’s say 3) will be placed close in proximity from each other and when more than one shelter stethoscope is “activated”, a string of light will connect the shelters to one another, visually connecting people through the beat of their hearts.

(see neuron to neuron for Body as Community inspo by Tif! Shen)

heART Pod V1 (Chandelier)

The chandelier/lamp is the first version of the art project heART Pod and will the first heART pod, to be created and shared with people. It is intended to be installed at 2026 art festivals (Otherworld, What If?, Squamish Arts Festival).

Phases

The heART Pod project will have several phases as follows:

Phase 1. heART Pod V 1: Chandelier
A hanging lamp sized chandelier will serve as the first version of the heART Pod. This version will serve as its own art piece as will as a prototype for the larger versions of the heART Pod.

Phase 2. heART Pod V2: Shelter
A shelter sized heART pod will fit 3-4 people. A stethoscope will dangle from the ceiling of the pod, inviting people to put the chestpiece to their heart. Once the a heartbeat is detected, the lights on inside and outside of the pod will thump to mimic the heartbeart and the heartbeat will be broadcasted through speakers on the external and internal structure of the pod. This heART Pod Shelter will “connect” with the heART Pod Chandelier through lights once both structures are activated through a heartbeat.

Phase 3: heART Pod V3 (and more)
Several versions of the heART pod will form a connected network of audibly and visually interactive structures. These pods will be placed near each other in a given space and interact with one another when they are “activated” by a person putting a stethoscope hanging form the middle of the heart pod, to their own heart.

Each heART pod serves as a piece to connect people to themselves and one another, as well as playfully educate them about hearts! The stethoscope will always hang from the sinoatrial (SA) node, the heart's natural pacemaker and the start of detecting life in the womb! Through QR codes accompanying the pieces, we will allow visitors to learn about heart scientifically, artistically, emotionally and abstractly through information on the website. Some of this info may also be portrayed in artifacts that accompany the art piece, such as an illustrated book, poem, or medical heart diagram. We aim to share the different ways “heart” is in and all around us from STEM, Arts, relationships, nature and more.

Sustainability

Being footprint conscious while creating art and attending festivals is important to us. We are trying to use as much upcycled and resuable materials as possible. This includes clean hospital packaging and materials waste, broken medical gear, used plastics, scrap metals, preloved textiles, and other household objects. Electronics and lighting will come from our own resources and tech recycling centres as much as possible but most will likely be purchased new. Since they are easily programmable and very reusable, we will be able to reconstruct them for other projects. We are also hoping to utilize solar panels to power our electronics. This would allow us to use renewable energy to be ideally energy self sufficient and more mobile to where our project be installed.

Layout

heART pod V1 Chandelier