„Polypulse“ deals with the topic of protection through creating a vulnerable and intimate experience between strangers in a city environment. The audience is invited to come close, feel their heartbeat in the backdrop of the city noise and negotiate what it means to be part of a vibrating moment of shared experience.

Installation with sound performance, 2023

Ai-De Yang, Lara Bäucker, Christian Del Conte and Han Jing

Three white, wooden cubes surrounded by benches are clustered outside. They attract the audience to freely choose their seat. One person at once is invited to come close to the three musicians in the center and to place a small microphone equipped with a stethoscope head onto their chest. The microphone picks up on the person’s heartbeat, amplifying and disclosing the pulse on an auditory and tactile level as the white cubes with hidden speakers vibrate in synchronicity. The musicians listen attentively to the heartbeat, noticing and attuning into the uniqueness of each person’s heart rhythm. They gradually join it with their voices and sometimes instruments for a shared musical improvisation and react closely to the irregularities and changes in the beating heart. In the few minutes this encounter lasts before changing to the next person, a fragile bond full of vulnerability and reciprocity is established. As one’s heartbeat takes center stage the audience is faced with their aliveness, mortality and existence while being accommodated and embraced by the musicians warm quality of voice and sincerity.

In a time of ongoing wars the group wanted to discuss what it could entail to share a space and acknowledge difference and sameness. Each person’s pulse – informed by their life, culture and diverse identities – is unique. Through hearing and feeling your own heartbeat and that of others, the differences and the sameness of the crowd become graspable. But not only the crowd, also the musicians were constantly negotiating their cultural and personal differences and tangent points throughout their improvisations.

Process

The process behind „Polypulse“ was rich in practical experimentation, theoretical discussion and negotiation. It was essential for the group to lay out a space, where the different artistic backgrounds and musical languages could meet and a common ground could be established. Therefore the group created a process of constantly  alternating in the leading person, embracing each other’s differences, trying out diverse approaches and models of communication and fully trusting in each other. Ultimately the group was happy in the way it condensed their many thoughts and engaged in fruitful collaboration.