Heartbeats, Zhang Muchen, "The Section of Experimental Art at the 23th National Art Exhibition"

The “Heartbeat” is an interactive installation work that requires participation of the audience. The audience stands on a separated podium, putting her/his hands onto the sensors. Computer programs analyze the heartbeats detected by the sensors and changes of heartbeats form corresponding ripples in various locations of the black water, which disturb the water’s stable reflection of the milieu at the beginning. This completes a conversation with the participant for a brief moment.
In East Asian philosophical thoughts, the heart controls our mind and body, as it is the inner core that control’s the person’s will. The work utilizes hands as mediators as well as extension of the viewer’s heart, and their interactive vibrations make ripples reflect our spiritual minds. The reflections casted by the ripples visualize every deliberate change of the viewer’s mind in a status between totality and fragmentation. Therefore, we can ask a question: what is moving, the water or our mind?