Effection invites you to embark on a transformative expedition, to rediscover both self and environment through a fusion of sensory stimuli.
A mirror to your inner landscape, Effection gently steers you from your present state towards a harmonious state of coherence - where heart rhythms, breathing patterns and emotions synchronize - through meditative cycles of light and sound.
Guided by heart rate sensors, the installation dynamically responds to the rhythms of your heart, transmuting them into cascading gradients of light and enveloping sound - an immersive biofeedback experience that invites you to explore the intricate connections between your heart, breath, and emotions. By incorporating principles of color psychology and emotional mapping, Effection serves as an enduring reminder of our profound interconnectedness, guiding us on a path towards enhanced well-being and self-discovery.
Effection was launched at Method Gallery, Kala Ghoda, India
Year: September, 2023
Dimensions: 3 metres x 4 metres
Material: addressable LEDs, stretch fabric, plywood skeleton
Tech specifications:
The sonic experience of Effection consists of an immersive algorhythmic soundscape composed and programmed by Aman Jagwani. All sounds are synthesized and generated in real-time using the sound and music computing language, Csound. There are no samples or recorded file playback at all. This allows the soundscape to be a living, breathing, transformative entity, enabling a unique experience for each experiencer.
The soundscape evolves through the stages of the Effection experience with 9 different layers/textures of sound weaving in and out in coherence with the experiencer’s heart rhythms. At different points, the soundscape reacts to the heart rhythm as well as induces changes in heart and breath patterns of the experiencer.
The playback environment is organized into a quadraphonic configuration with the addition of audio exciters/transducers on the floor, creating a multi dimensional sound world.
The visual experience, designed by Myles, consists of a structure with 4500 addressable LEDs, controlled by custom software that intercepts the heart rate from a Fitbit and translates it to visualize your heart rhythm via color. This software is written in the Max programming language, by utilizing the Art-Net protocol to communicate with programmable LEDs, each panel of 900 LEDs have an ESP32 parsing the Art-Net information to depict a certain animation of gradients per stage.
The Fitbit transmits the heart rate data to the system over a websocket by utilizing custom code written for it, moreover the heart rate data is then compiled into a graph along with the heart rate variance calculated to depict the stages of each users journey into the effection experience.
Effection was initially conceptualised as part of my post graduation thesis at RMIT University, Australia. The thesis paper has been published at HeartMath Institute's Research Library.