CHAMBERS

Chambers was my first sci-art collaboration with a GP practice and four musicians and was an exploration into the notion of creating an audio topography of the human heart based on the electrocardiogram (ECG) of individuals. ​

The four musicians were invited to a GP practice to have their ECGs recorded. The ECG recording was then transposed to a musical script, and all the musicians were invited to rehearse and play their own ECG heart score.​ An ECG measures the electrical activity of your heart and detects the direction and intensity of the natural spread of tiny electrical currents through the heart muscle. Therefore, it provides an accurate way of investigating the heart’s rate, rhythm, size and health of the heart muscle itself.​

During the development of Chambers, I gained an understanding that we take for granted that heart activity is examined by listening or direct viewing of an ECG printout, and hope to show that there are many possibilities of representation. ​Opus Pericardium takes this project to the next stage. ​

I would like to thank all the musicians and Ardingly Court Surgery, Brighton, for their generosity in supporting the research and development of this project.