ADAM BROWN  
 
 

PULSE POOL

NEW INSTALLATION CONNECTS BOSTON WITH OKLAHOMA CITY

THROUGH THE HUMAN PULSE

--Exhibit at the Museum of Science, Boston offers visitors a first-of-its-kind experience--

BOSTON—For the first time, two cities will be connected via the human pulse. From April 23 through April 30 during the Cambridge Science Festival and the Boston Cyberarts Festival, the Museum of Science and New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., Boston presents Pulse Pool , an interactive installation that uses Internet and RFID technolog ies to allow people in two different cities to experience one another’s pulse.   Pulse Pool bridges art and human biology via technology—as well as two capital cities: Boston and Oklahoma City.

Designed and engineered by the Symbotic Media Group, led by Adam Brown and Andrew Fagg at the University of Oklahoma, Pulse Pool consists of two ten-foot round pools of water—one located at the Museum of Science and the other at the University of Oklahoma. Visitors stand by the pool and wear computing bracelets that track their pulse. The pool detects the transmission from the bracelets, and each individual's pulse is then represented in real time as a series of water drops released into the pool by a disk suspended directly above. By synchronizing the rhythms of the pulses and water droplets, visitors can detect which drips correspond to their pulse. And by watching the ripples from the droplets, they can see their “pulse” meet and interact with the “pulse” of others.

In addition, the two installations will relay information to one another, causing LED lights under the water in each location to flash in correspondence to the pulses in the other city. Visitors will also be able to track the connections via a web interface.

“Pulse Pool will offer Museum visitors a chance to experience a basic wonder of human biology: their own pulse and the pulse of others,” says Mike Alexander, Director of Public Programs at the Museum of Science. “And through cutting-edge technology and the art of installation, participants will experience the pulse in a completely new way that is both visual and interactive.”  

“Imagine if you could see and feel another human's pulse just as intimately as you know your own. How would access to this otherwise unavailable information change the way you interact with one another?,” asks Adam Brown, director of the Symbiotic Media Center?. He adds, “Through cutting-edge technology, Pulse Pool explores these questions by connecting participants with each other through their pulses in real time.”