A symphony of heartbeats

(dan ionut popescu)

German, Austrian and Finnish musicians have created an audio/visual symphony played literally from the heartbeats of 12 musicians in São Paulo, Brazil using ECG sensors.

The Heart Chamber Orchestra (HCO), a project by Terminalbeach made up of Erich Berger and Peter Votava, took second place in the Electronica Sonority FILE Prix Lux prize with their audio/visual show made by heartbeats at FILE, the 11th annual International Festival of Electronic Language, in São Paulo, Brazil ending on August 29.

Members of the HCO are individually wired into the "sensor network" and a computer transmits their heartbeat data to produce the show.

The FILE site explains that the "software analyses the data and generates via different algorithms the real-time musical score for the musicians, the electronic sounds and the computer graphic visualization."

HCO produces biological music as "their heartbeats influence and change the composition and vice versa."

No two performances are the same as "the musicians and the electronic composition are linked via the hearts in a circular motion, a feedback structure" and "the emerging music evolves entirely during the performance."

See and hear the music of the HCO's collective heartbeat:  http://vimeo.com/11717447

To learn more about FILE São Paulo 2010, go to: http://www.filefestival.org/site_2007/pagina_conteudo_livre.asp?a1=308&a2=308&id=2