ECG RECORDING
ECG PERFORMANCE - SHIFT FESTVAL
24.10.2008 - 26.10.2008 Shift Festival - Basel / Switzerland
Interpretation is the translation of meaning - Physicians use the visual information displayed in the electrocardiogram (ECG) report to draw conclusions about how a personʼs heart is functioning. Electrical information (visually represented) is used by the interpreter to “know” the state of the physical world (the mechanical status of the heart).
Interpretation is also a form of communication - When a message is passed from one person to another (a word, for instance), the message is “decoded” at a metaphysical level, and it is given meaning.
The ECG reading depicts the final result of cardiac life-sustaining functions, resulting from a series of transformations of information - from genetic, to molecular, to electrical, to mechanical, to visual, to digital... ECG readings can be interpreted by anyone who understands the underlaying principles of these information flow. We are capable of establishing a connection with individuals through the electrical traces of our body. But, is it possible to extend this beyond interpretation, and into a shared experience?
The visual representation of information, in the form of an ECG, is the functional equivalent of an artistic drawing - It prompts for a response from “others”, as the result of the expression of our deepest manifestations of existence. Therefore, the ECG report is one of many fundamental components of a Mission Eternity pilotʼs self-portrait. The cycle of transformations is extended into the digitalization of the ECG drawing and the digital storage of cardio-electrical information, for completing the arcanum capsule, traveling through time-space... for eternity.