Four Chambers Studio: Interactive Heart Technologies

Four Chambers Studio gets its name from the reference to the heart and its four chambers. Over the past 20 years, founder of Four Chambers Studio, Gene Cooper has developed performances, installations, heart sensor technology, and health education projects that explore this very unique element of the human body.

Below are a few of the projects that the company has been developed and produced...

Open Heart Network
Open Heart Network is an interactive mobile network of individuals with the unique capability of sharing heart rate, physical activity, and intersocial information about each other in realtime. Members of the network are physically equipped with heart sensors and tactile feedback technology coupled with the Apple iPhone sensor and network technologies. These technologies allow each person to collect, share, receive, and analyze information about themselves and other members of the network at any time. The data is represented through 3D realtime visualization of their heartrate on the iPhone, audio translation, digital journals, and tactile feedback devices. The initial stage of the project involves 10-20 members who will explore the experience of being connected to each other in such an intimate, personal way over a 1 year time period. Questions that the Project Addresses: 1. What is the social experience of being connected in such a personal way over a long period of time? Artists such as Linda Montano & Tehching Hsieh have led the way in this regard with pioneering performance artworks in the 70's. With the development of new technologies, many more questions arise regarding how we can best use technology to create meaningful experiences mediated through digital technologies. 2. What does the data from the project tell us about the relationships between physical activity, heartrate, environmental factors, and social behavior? 3. What health, behavioral, and social discoveries can be made through this type of close personal connections with one another? 4. How can data be represented and used by members of the network to create meaningful exchanges and interactions? For more information about the project, please contact Gene Cooper at 707-319-9310 or gene@fourchambers.org

Hearts Aloft (currently in development)
Hearts Aloft is an interactive installation that investigates the cycle of life by allowing anyone to transfer their pulse electronically to a helium balloon and set it aloft. Each of the 250 balloons is equipped with the ability to continuously illustrate the distinct pulse of the participant that releases it.
As the balloons slowly lose their helium (over the course of 2 weeks), they will gently descend, becoming disconnected once they reach the floor. A disconnected balloon can be reused by a new participant, who can transfer their own pulse, refill it and set it aloft for another journey.

The Heart of Burning Man 2007 and 2008
The Heart of Burning Man Project is an interactive installation at Burning Man that allowed participants to interactively transmit their own heartbeat to a LED-neon heart sculpture located in the Burning Man. The project is inspired by and about the people who make up the event and honors each person's unique connection to it which is always very personal and heartfelt.

myPULSE Interactive Program for Heart Patients

This demonstration site provides examples of interactive exercises designed to help educate patients and families about heart disease. The project was developed in the late 1990's.

Heart Related Artworks by Gene Cooper
For the past 20 years, Cooper has been involved in investigating the heart and its various effects and connections to our everyday lives.