alicia eggert: pulse machine with alexander reben

‘pulse machine’ by alicia eggert and alexander reben electromechanical sculpture all images courtesy of alicia eggert and alexander reben

Pulse Machine from Alicia Eggert on Vimeo.

‘pulse machine’ is an electromechanical sculpture made by american artists alicia eggert and alexander reben. it was ‘born’ at coop gallery in nashville, tennessee, on 2 june 2012, at 6:18:03 pm. the piece has been programmed to have the average human lifespan of babies born in tennessee on that same day, with the average life expectancy in 2012 being 78.02 years at a rate of 60 bpm which means the artwork’s ‘heart’ will pound 2,460,438,720 times in its lifetime. this is achieved via a kick drum which uses a solenoid to pull down the drum’s mallet and mechanically sound a pulse. the mechanical counter displays the number of heartbeats remaining in its existence and an internal, battery-operated clock keeps track when it’s unplugged. the creation will ‘die’ once the counter reaches zero.

the kick drum uses a solenoid to pull down the drum’s mallet and mechanically beat the sculpture’s pulse

an internal, battery-operated clock keeps track of the passing time when the sculpture is unplugged

the mechanical counter uses flip-digit numerals to continuously display the amount of heartbeats remaining.

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