Heart Pillow

source: highlike

Work: Heart Pillow is a project developed by Bernardo Schorr and Maria Paula Saba. Heart Pillow is a transhuman artifact that reproduces a person’s heartbeat remotely and in real time. As one user wears a heart rate sensor, another user can feel the pillow pulsate at the same rate from a distance. The project allows the very pulse of life to be transferred into an everyday object — in this case, a pillow — making it serve both as an extension to the user’s body and as mimicry of life itself. It also raises interesting questions on the meaning of “emotion” and “affection” and their scalability to the various modes of interaction that may arise from an augmented object.
Photographer: Bernardo Schorr
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source: fileorg

Abstract:
“Heart Pillow” is a transhuman artifact that reproduces a person’s heartbeat remotely and in real time. It allows the very pulse of life to be transferred into an everyday object – a pillow – making it serve both as an extension to the user’s body and as mimicry of life itself, playing with the perceptions we might have on how life can be defined. It raises interesting questions on the meaning of the words “emotion” and “affection” and their scalability to the various modes of interaction that may arise from an augmented object. “Heart Pillow” can be used in any situations in which transferring a heartbeat into an everyday object can be interesting or useful, such as connecting a couple that is apart, to calm down new born babies with the known feeling of their mother’s heartbeat or as an extension of the self into an everyday object as a mean of reflection.
Biography:
Bernardo Schorr is a Brooklyn-based Brazilian media artist, a Master of design candidate at PUC-Rio, and MFA candidate at Design & Technology Program at Parsons The New School For Design. His work spans creative coding, physical computing, computer graphics and design theory.
Maria Paula Saba is a Brooklyn-based Brazilian interaction designer and a master candidate at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. Her work spans art and design including creative programming, physical computing, data visualization, and research on new technologies and experiences.
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source: fileorg

Abstract:
“Heart Pillow” é um artefato transumano que reproduz os batimentos cardíacos de uma pessoa remotamente e em tempo real. Ele permite que a própria pulsação da vida seja transferida para um objeto de uso cotidiano – um travesseiro –, que assim funciona como uma extensão corporal do usuário e como um mimetismo da própria vida, brincando com nossas percepções sobre como a vida pode ser definida. Ele suscita questões interessantes sobre o significado das palavras “emoção” e “afeição” e seu grau de efetividade em relação aos vários modos de interação que podem surgir a partir de um objeto ampliado. “Heart Pillow” pode ser usado em quaisquer situações nas quais possa ser interessante ou útil transferir batimentos cardíacos para um objeto de uso cotidiano, como ligar um casal que está separado, acalmar bebês recém-nascidos com a sensação conhecida da frequência cardíaca de sua mãe ou como uma extensão do eu em um objeto, como meio de reflexão.
Biography:
Bernardo Schorr é um artista brasileiro de novas mídias que mora no Brooklyn e candidato a um mestrado em design na PUC-Rio e a outro no programa de design e tecnologia da Parsons The New School For Design. Seu trabalho abrange codificação criativa, computação física, gráficos computadorizados e teoria do design. Maria Paula Saba é uma designer brasileira de interatividade que mora no Brooklyn e candidata a um mestrado no programa de telecomunicações interativas da NYU. Seu trabalho abrange arte e design, incluindo programação criativa, computação física, visualização de dados e pesquisa sobre novas tecnologias e experiências.
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source: bernardoschorr

Bernardo Schorr is a New York City based Brazilian new media artist and interaction designer.

He holds a B.Sc. in Design from Esdi (Brazil) from which a semester at the HfG Offenbach (Germany) was part. He is currently a MFA candidate at the Design & Technology Program at Parsons The New School For Design and concurrently a Master of Design candidate at PUC-Rio, in Brazil.

He has previously worked as an assistant to research at IMPA (Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics – Brazil), Esdi (Brazil) and The New School(New York). He’s been a visual designer at several design agencies and an interaction design intern at the UX group at Siemens Corporate Research.

As an artist, he has exhibited work in both public and academic venues and holds publications in conferences such as Sibgrapi, Interaction IxDA South America and P&D Brazil. His work spans creative coding, physical computing, computer vision, projection mapping and gigapixel photography.