Heart-to-Heart,2026

heart to heart is an interactive installation that invites two participants to physically and visually experience the phenomenon of shared rhythm. The piece measures the heartbeats of two individuals and gradually synchronizes them through a responsive lighting system, creating a moment of visual and emotional connection between strangers.

Participants place their fingers on two pulse sensors positioned in front of the installation. Their heartbeats are detected in real time and translated into light pulses within two stylized human figures constructed from layered, parametric laser-cut acrylic. Each figure contains a sculptural three-dimensional heart that passes through the stacked acrylic layers. These hearts illuminate and pulse according to the participants’ individual heart rhythms.

As the system runs, the installation slowly adjusts the visual rhythm of the two hearts, guiding them toward synchronization. When the two heartbeats visually align, the installation triggers a special lighting event that spreads through both figures, producing a moment of shared illumination. This moment symbolizes the subtle ways humans can influence one another’s emotional and physiological states.

The project explores the idea that human bodies and emotions can unconsciously synchronize through proximity and shared experience. Research in physiology and psychology suggests that heart rates can align during moments of empathy, conversation, or shared attention. This is referred to as interpersonal physiological synchrony. In heart to heart, transforms this invisible phenomenon into a tangible visual experience. 

By translating heartbeats into light and sculpture, the installation turns a deeply personal biological signal into a shared aesthetic event. The work encourages strangers to pause, interact, and witness how their individual rhythms can converge.