The Heart Machine is a collaborative project that combines sculptural structures, flame effects and technology to create compelling interactive art that both welcomes and needs participants. The Heart Machine was not built by one single artist, but through the combined efforts of many creative minds, hearts and hands. In addition to volunteers who helped with the creation of the heart machine during educational how-to workshops, the project had a core team responsible for getting the heart machine to Burning Man for 2010. The Heart Machine was an official Burning Man Arts Grant Committee 2010 Honorarium Project.
The Heart Machine Team is broken into two portfolio pieces; our original version and team for Burning Man 2010 and our Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche 2011 version and team to be exhibited in Toronto. This page is dedicated to the Burning Man 2010 exhibition and team.
About The Heart Machine for Burning Man 2010
The Heart Machine is inspired by the 2010 Burning Man theme and In Fritz Lang’s 1926 movie Metropolis. In the movie the main character asks, “It was their hands that built this city of ours, father. But where do the hands belong in your scheme?” His father answers, “In their proper place – the depths.” The Heart Machine questions human kids symbiotic relationship with technology. Would technology exist without us, how would we be different without technology… where do the lines begin to blur between man, machine and pure thought?
At the heart of the city, the heart of our Metropolis, exists a machine: the heart machine. Without the heart machine the city and civilization as we know it would fall apart. Yet without humans to interact with it, the heart machine would cease have a purpose; cease to exist. In the absence of this symbiotic relationship the heart machine sits silently on the playa and participants passively wander the night looking for “something.”
How we perceive technology guides our interactivity with the heart machine. Do we watch passively for the machine to react to our presence or do we take active control? Do we reach out and explore without fear or do we wait to take the lead from others? Even if we do reach out and explore, no one person can wake the heart machine. We must visit the depths of our metropolis together to build the connections the heart machine needs to interact and communicate with us. We, the citizens of metropolis, are the nerves, the arteries, the lifeblood of the heart machine – and her warming fires are our reward.
Interactivity with the Heart Machine
Participants must complete the heart machine circuits by working together. Once a connection is made, the switch is activated and large, bursting flames are their reward.
The possibilities of what is created by participants depends on their imagination:
- a group of 4-5 participants work together to set off one flame effect
- 5-10 participants self organize to set off 2 flame effects at once
- musically minded participants realize by breaking and reconnecting withing their group, they can create an organic beat born in flames
- Groups of participants can explore various interaction sequences that create different flame effect responses
- 20 participants work together to engage the entire heart machine; perhaps initiating a hidden sequence within the heart machine
The possibilities are endless but the interaction is always all inclusive and encourages strangers to engage with each other. Imagine a lone burner walking by – she hears a group of people calling to her, beckoning her to come over and join them. When she approaches they explain they need her as the final link to create the connection. She joins in and a burst of flames light up the night. More people come over to see what is going on. By the end of the play, new connections have been made within the heart machine.
Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team
This is the original team that took what should have been an 18 month project and made it a reality in less than 7 months. As team lead Christine Irving says, “building the Heart Machine was akin to child birth – rewarding but with a lot of learning, work, and growing pains along the way”. This was a great experience but extra kudos are bestowed to the team due to the many long volunteer hours it took to make this project happen on such a tight timeline.
Victor Samou Wong
Victor Samou Wong, after having explored the fields of molecular biology and visual effects animation is currently an animation, digital media, photography and science teacher for the Toronto District School Board. Here, Victor is currently the head of the ADVANCE Specialist High Skills Major, an exciting new program designed to prepare high school students for …
Chloe Leonard
About Chloe: Chloe “Rawhide” is a passionate artist and active community member who loves connecting and creating with others. Sun and fire and all things Lifey inspire this woman. She is committed to walking a path that integrates all ways of learning and self growth, including visual arts, meditation, physical health, spiritual growth, intellectual stimulation, …
Alexander Kon-i Ho
About Alex: Portfolio Work With interactive arts (i.a.): The Heart Machine Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team Interactive Software and Systems: Max’s Right Hand Man Burning Man 2010 Onsite Core Team Alex Links: Personal Website:
Deane Hughes
About Deane: Portfolio Work With interactive arts (i.a.): The Heart Machine Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team Interactive Software and Systems Team: Creator of Musical Interaction Player Burning Man 2010 Onsite Core Team Deane Links: Personal Website:
Reid Orsten
About Reid: Reid is driven by three things: figuring stuff out, making stuff and communicating. And since Reid has to keep living, he searched for something to do where there would always be something to figure out, always something to make, and always something to communicate. The only thing he found was art, and he …
Chris Beaumont
Work with interactive arts (i.a.): The Heart Machine – Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team Sculpture Team Burning Man 2010 Onsite Core Team The Heart Machine – Nuit Blanche 2011 Artistic Team Sculpture Team Nuit Blanche 2011 Onsite Core Team The Humber Bridge Sculpture Artistic Team Concept Team Sculpture Team Humber Bridge Onsite Core Team …
John Rose
About John: I’m many things. For example, I’m an adventurer. I climb rocks, and mountains. I’ve been known to go spelunking. I hike, backpack, and enjoy orienteering. Am I an artist? Perhaps. I’m not quite a painter, sculptor, or other such single thing one might think an artist to be. Part of what I certainly am is a multidisciplinary artisan / …
Seth Hardy
About Seth: Seth’s background in technology is the basis for his focus on industrial and mixed-media interactive sculpture. He works primarily with fire art and lighting installations that involve physical engagement with technology, providing participants with very personalized experiences. As one of the founders and the executive director of Site 3 coLaboratory, Seth is dedicated to his vision of …
Peter Stevens-Guille
About Peter: Peter is a professional engineer who has an interest in art projects. From assisting with the first all-welded stage set in South Africa as a student, he has progressed to working on The Heart Machine for Burning Man 2010, Flux and Fire in 2011 at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa and the now revamped Heart …
Mark Szilard
About Mark: Fire combines the spirit of life, art and science for Mark. Inspired by four trips to Burningman, a fascination with the zen of design and creation, and working side by side with friends, Mark believes fire art is a great medium to help others connect with the magic of the universe. A Professional …
Ian Grindall
About Ian: www.firelightarts.com www.illuminair-entertainment.com Portfolio Work With interactive arts (i.a.): The Heart Machine Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team Sculpture Team Flame Effects Team Co-Lead (with Priya Sarin) Burning Man 2010 Onsite Core Team The Heart Machine Nuit Blanche 2011 Artistic Team Sculpture Team Performance Lead Official Media Photographer and Videographer Flux & Fire Nuit Blanche …
dian carlo
About Dian: Artist/Designer Full time maker and lover of life and adventure. Portfolio Work With interactive arts (i.a.): The Heart Machine Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team Sculpture Team Sculpture Design Lead Provider of the Main Build Shop for Part I of Build (SODI Designs) Core Instructor for Welding and Metal Fabrication Materials Provider Burning Man …
Ted Redelmeier
About Ted: Portfolio Work With interactive arts (i.a.): The Heart Machine Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team Sculpture Team Provider of the Main Build Shop for Part II of Build; Thank You Ted! Fundraising Supporter Ted Links: Personal Website:
Priya Sarin
About Priya: Lawyer by day, artist by night and always thirsty for a new adventure, Priya has had a long history of balancing her need to express her creative energy with her practical and responsible side. After years of involvement in music, dance and visual arts, Priya joined forces with an amazing crew of friends and artists to …
Max Stevens-Guille
About Max: By day, Max is an executive for a global technology company. In his spare time, he works on interactive projects that combine hardware and software to create compelling – and hopefully artistic – experiences. Max creates both hardware and software, but enjoys systems integration most of all. For pleasure, he enjoys tinkering with …
Kamin Andresen
About Kamin: I guess it took me a while but I’m finally getting used to the moniker “artist” after cutting my teeth on The Heart Machine. I’ve been a world traveler for the past seven years & am the token Australian on The Heart Machines core team. Initially the designated “cat herder” for the sculpture …
Jason Bellenger
About Jason: Most of the time I make 3D digital modeling tools for industrial designers, filmmakers, and certain kinds of kids. This makes opportunities to volunteer with IA a special treat: to participate in transmuting physical materials into products of the imagination. In the early winter of 2010 I organized a workshop in Toronto: Flame …
Drake Trafford
About Drake: Portfolio Work With interactive arts (i.a.): The Heart Machine Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team Flame Effects Team (King of Threading: Drake also provided the threading machine) Sculpture Team Flux & Fire Nuit Blanche 2010 Artistic Team Flame Effects Plumbing Lead (Drake singlehandedly threaded EVERY pipe!) Nuit Blanche 2010 Onsite Core Team Flux & …
George Foussias
About George: Portfolio Work With interactive arts (i.a.): The Heart Machine Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team Sculpture Team Sculpture Design Lead Graphics Artist for Concept Images Burning Man 2010 Onsite Core Team The Heart Machine Nuit Blanche 2011 Artistic Team Sculpture Team George Links: Personal Website:
Dani Cullimore
About Dani: Dani is an artist, researcher, and anthropologist who has spent a significant chunk of time doing volunteer work getting her hands dirty, in places like the Black Rock Desert and Pisco, Peru (BM DPW, BWB) Shortly after her first desert experience, she found herself in metal shops and art spaces in the Bay …
Chriz (North) Miller
About Chriz: Chriz Miller is a design strategist and happy handyman, and was media liason for the Heart Machine team in it’s inception in 2010. His work includes facilitating design sessions and sawing up struts. Portfolio Work With interactive arts (i.a.): The Heart Machine Burning Man 2010 Artistic Team Sculpture Team – design Performer Chriz Links: Personal …
Christine Irving
About Christine: Christine Irving is a management consultant, artist and project manager in the technology industry. She was the first Canadian female artist to be commissioned by Burning Man for large interactive art. Irving is one of the founders of interactive arts and the concept artist, financer, and driver behind The Heart Machine and, but her …
Alex Leitch
About Alex: Alex lives and works in Toronto, where she works in IT for Major Public Institution (x). She is much better known for her work in brand and logo design with various arts groups around the city, including Site 3 coLaboratory and hacklab.TO. Alex dreams of leaving Toronto, flamethrowers in tow, to move to …
Neko Rutherford
Neko was co-sculpture designer of the Heart Machine project, with the method `design the idea, engineer it later` much to the chagrin of the other sculpture team members. She was raised by artists to believe there is no other way through life except making stuff. Neko’s work on the Heart Machine pre-dated her return to school …
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