HEART/TIME
biofeedback rhythms, part ii

~~
About
This is a site-specific immersive audio-visual performance by Kim Nucci and AC Diamond taking place at Watershed Arts & Ecology, partially funded by a grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) Individual Artists Program Grant.

The show starts at ~7:30pm. There is no cover charge. Duration is ~90 min.

Premise
The beat refers both to the heart rate and to the musical concept of tempo. HEART/TIME proposes that the heart rate is the tempo. Using heart rate data as a control parameter in the music creates a biofeedback loop between the heart rates of the performers and the theatre. HEART/TIME leverages the conceptual framework of embodied cognition by which the body and psyche are both intertwined and influenced by one’s environment, rather than it being solely instigated by the mind. The theatre — or in this case, the gallery — is a constructed environment where the perceptual envelope of both audience and performer is altered by the collective energies of the space and those within it. Performer-driven shifts in sound, movement, and reactive visual systems modulate their heart rates. The resultant fluctuations in real-time biodata feeds influence HEART/TIME, triggering corresponding changes in the music and visuals, feeding back into the system. This real-time loop continuously reconfigures the audiovisual experience as it unfolds.

This work builds upon the research of Professor Milford Graves and his study of healing, rhythms, the body, and the heart; and is inspired by something he used to say frequently to his students —

“…throw away your metronome and listen to your heart.”

This work is situated in Nucci’s larger research practice examining the ecology of the body/mind and how it’s surveilled and manipulated. Their research loosely centers the collection of personal biodata, personal information security, AI, surveillance capitalism and state surveillance that uses this data collected about us to enforce normative behaviors and/or feed the carceral state. By re-appropriating tools such as smart watches, phones to manipulate and this work seeks to reclaim ownership of our own biodata through creative use and data manipulation through biofeedback, and interrogate these emergent systems of oppression.

~~~~~

Artists:
AC Diamond is a sound and media artist working across live performance, creative technology, and archives. Their work takes place in galleries, theaters, DIY venues, unconventional venues, and public spaces. Active since 2009, AC holds an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College and a BA from Bennington College, and currently serves as Adjunct Faculty in Music Technology at NYU Steinhardt.

AC’s work has been supported by a NYFA/NYSCA Fellowship in Music/Sound (2022-23) and a Van Lier Fellowship at Roulette Intermedium (2020), as well as grants from NYSCA/Wave Farm, the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Antisocial Music, and the Queens Arts Fund.

Kim Nucci is an Chicago/Oakland-based media artist, composer, improviser, and technologist. They perform on electronics, synthesizer, and saxophones. In their studio practice, they create interactive installations using architectural intervention, light, projection, microcontrollers, temporary sculptures and paintings. Nucci’s research interests explore the pedestrian cybernetic body, critically examining our relationship with technology/our instruments. Their solo performance practice is invested in ritualism and trance states in improvisation. They hold an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media, and MA in Music Composition from Mills College, and BA from Bennington College. They studied with Milford Graves, Roscoe Mitchell, Zeena Parkins, James Fei, Maggi Payne, Fred Frith, Shinichi Iova-Koga, Allen Shawn, Liz Deschenes, and Nick Brooke. They have taught classes at California Jazz Conservatory, and workshops at Oberlin College, Carleton College, ACRE, ESS, Center for Concrete and Abstract Machines (CCAM Chicago), Tritriangle, and Women’s Audio Mission. Previously, they headed ACRE Residency’s Sound and AV departments. As Technical Director of Driven Arts Collective (a dance/theatre and media arts performance collective), they compose music and create interactive media for dance/theatre productions. As an Organizer at CCAM, Kim co-produces events, workshops and residencies centering art, technology and its surrounding theories. They are an active member of //sense collective (a Chicago-based performance art group re-interpreting Fluxus through a contemporary lens). Professionally, they work in museums doing audio visual installation, automation, and systems design, and as a freelance sound engineer. Kim Nucci has performed at SFMOMA, Gray Area, Elastic Arts, CCRMA (Stanford), ODC Theatre, Black Mountain College, Center for New Music (C4NM), Counterpulse, Dub Club at The Echoplex, Compound Yellow, and many DIY spaces across the US. They have been an artist in residence at Dresher Ensemble’s DEAR Residency, ACRE, Zero1, and Counterpulse. They received the 2024/2025 Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Individual Artists Program Grant which this piece is partially funded by.

Official Website

More events on this date

Tags: AC Diamond, Chicago, Kim Nucc1, Kim Nucc1 & AC Diamond: Heart /Time biofeedback rhythms, Lower West Side, part ii, Watershed Art and Ecology