http://www.khm.de/~xi-bot/emotions_defibrillator/
Emotion‘s Defi brillator tobias grewenig 2005
400 x 400 x250 cm; interactive installation;
techniques used for the realisation
hardware: pulse oximeter, skin sensor, breath sensor, electrostimulator, vga-screen,
6 satellite speakers, 1 subwoofer, ir camera, 2 computers [audio/video].
The electronic sculpture,
„Emotion‘s Defi brillator“, responds to the
cliché that electronics manipulate consciousness,
that is to say, media are reduced to
being the psychological effects of which they
cause. Indeed, apart from their functional
qualities, cathode ray tubes, projectors and
generally almost all of the electrical and
electronic devices used in daily life have a
subtle psychological impact on the human
being. Fluorescent lights buzz and refrigerators
rumble – their way of making us aware
of their underlying electrical, or electronic
(depending on the device) acoustic presence.
Cinematographic fi lms are examples of perception
taking a „concrete“ form, where the
optical illusion of seeing „moving pictures“ is
made possible only due to the „slowness of
perception of the human eye“. When a light
wave attains the eye, the cells of the retina
transmit a signal to the brain. However this
light wave is held only for a brief second. To
create the illusion of motion, new light waves
(light photograms) must be send to the brain
in order to maintain this effect.