Panic Machine

A performative installation of a cybernetic feedback loop.

Our heart has the peculiar capability to adapt to varying levels of external stress by changing its pulse accordingly. It faces stress with stress.

In this particular setting, the average value of the cardiac pulsation consisting of the relaxation and contraction of the heart dictates the tempo of a continuous loop the performer is listening to. This loop is specifically designed to induce stress.

Our body’s attempt to cope with the incoming stress by raising its heart rate will only increase the loop’s tempo and add up to more stress, since it is - by itself - the original source of its own state of alert.

Presented at University of the Arts Berlin in February 2019.