Pulse
- 2001
- media sculpture
- parabolic speaker, live radio broadcast
- dimensions variable
Pulse poses as a pseudo-scientific tool: part medical, part navigational device, the 70 cm tall apparatus invites the viewer to peer into its eyepiece. Here, a radar screen reveals itself and a time signal broadcast is audible. As the radar beam sweeps across the scope, it becomes apparent that the radar does not reveal geographical territory, but an animated organism. Its rhythmic action soon identifies it as part of the circulatory system, the imagery consisting of echocardiographic footage of the human heart.
The live short wave radio broadcast of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is audible only in close proximity to the viewing device. Each minute, a voice announcement tells the time of day in Greenwich, England, and there is a ‘tick’ for every second. This broadcast can be received in nearly all parts of the world. UTC is one of the coordinates referenced by the Global Positioning System (GPS) and follows the Western standard cartographic model, which designates Europe to be at the centre of the world.
Pulse explores the conceptual establishment of bodily and geophysical territories through their temporal contingency. In Pulse, the contractions of the heart frequently appear completely synchronized with the time signal, until both beats drift apart again.