Many unimaginable forms have been said and written about injustices and violence, being performed on people by people. Yet any amount of speech, or other forms of representations and abstractions, even when it helps alleviate the problem, does not bring comprehension. The violent injustices are far away for some of the lucky ones among us. Still, it is palpable and even closer for others, affecting the body on the organic and systemic levels. Even when it is no longer present.

As it is experienced through the body, perhaps the comprehension resides in the body as well, outside of the symbolic representations – this is the strategy that we deployed to approach the humanitarian crisis in the world. The heartbeat was recorded from one, among hundreds of thousands, in a refugee camp in Zaatari, Jordan. Its beat rings clear among myopic floods of statistic figures, media reports, images, and more, intended to describe the situation of those who fell into the ruptures of the geopolitical machinery.

The exhibition will be an installation of an interactive wall in the public space. The wall will vibrate in the rhythm of human heartbeats. The heartbeats sound was recorded by monitoring the heartbeat of a Syrian refugee living in one of the largest Syrian refugee camps in Jordan.

The idea of the project came from the ongoing refugee crises worldwide and, in particular the Syrian war. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 4.8 million Syrians have moved to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq.

Huge communities live in refugee camps without any facilities or functional infrastructure. The refugees do not have access to schools or health care. They have no chance to improve their lives in any way. The project is based on the refugee crisis disclosed, and how it is dehumanized, where refugees are reduced to become just a number in the news. The project aims to show a more human and more personal description of today’s geopolitical position. During our visit to the Zaatari refugee camp, we monitored and recorded the refugees’ heartbeats in the camp. The sound of the heartbeat converted to vibration. The vibration will be played by the tactile transducers (so-called butt-kickers) installed behind the Wall. The Wall will thus vibrate like a heartbeat.

The wall vibration, heartbeats, and touching of the Wall will merge into a unique physical experience by connecting (feeling) the Wall. The visitor should feel something as basic as a human pulse—our plan is to give the visitors a strong sense of an individual’s presence.

Construction

The wall will be with the following dimensions:

length: 180 cm hight width: 160 cm

Materials that will be used to build the wall:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. MDF plates
                                                            2. Wood beams
                                                            3. Cement (Plaster)
                                                            4. veggsparkel
                                                            5. paint
                                                            6. electricity