THE HEART
THE HEART BEATS
A machine learning algorithm that translates the torrent of live building data into the pulse of the building. The algorithm also produces the shapes visible in The Heart Array. The algorithm compares the building’s sensation in the present moment with its previous experiences at similar times of day over its whole ‘lifetime’. During nighttime hours The Heart dreams: it replays events of the day and processes what to remember and what to forget.
ARTIST: Robert Walton
ROLE: Design, Fabrication
CLIENT: Melbourne University
LOCATION: Melbourne Connect, Naarm
YEAR: 2023
THE HEART ARRAY
Thousands of bespoke LED light fittings in the form of a 10m human heart in the foyer of Melbourne Connect. The Heart array is made of 1km of brass rods in 142 droppers supporting 1450 printed circuit boards, 10,000 white LEDs, and 284 cores in the outline of a human heart made with brick dust from the Royal Woman’s Hospital that previously occupied the site. The Heart Array is animated by The Heart Beats.
THE HEART NODE
The primary node of The Heart Array. Hand-blown in scientific glass, this brilliant red neon core expands from a permanently lit centre with each heartbeat.