Heartbeat consists of a massive heart glowing to the rhythm of a strong, deep and low frequency heartbeat sound which changes its rate as visitors approach, move around and engage with it by playing various percussion instruments and joining the base rhythm of a heartbeat. The audience is invited to come together and creatively play, listen, dance and feel the vibrations of the heart while enjoying the warm pulsating light. In the emblematic, active, flickering atmosphere of Times Square, Heartbeat orchestrates multiple rhythms into a unique urban concert.

HeartSeat is a sculptural seating piece that was born to give an extended life to HeartBeat, a public sound installation created by Stereotank for Times Square Valentine 2015, presented by Times Square Alliance and The Architectural League of New York. From a heart shaped multi-player sound instrument (HeartBeat) the installation was transformed into public seating by rotating the halves of the heart and fixing a wood bench, the new shape re-uses the structural components of the original installation.

Stereotank is a design studio founded by Marcelo Ertorteguy and Sara Valente, dedicated to the research and exploration of the common grounds between architecture, art and sound. The studio works as a laboratory for design and creation of architectural artifacts, immersive installations, hybrid objects and instruments often using repurposed materials and pre-fab systems. Stereotank focus is to re-invent program with existing resources, with the aim of looking at old things with a fresh eye, relying on simplicity and intuition. Understanding urban scape as the medium, one of the main interests at this scale is the activation of public space through the insertion of participatory projects that engage, entertain and educate the users.

Marcelo Ertorteguy and Sara Valente graduated from the School of Architecture and Urbanism of The Universidad Central de Venezuela in 2005. After conducting a design studio about the common territories between architecture and music at the same school, they moved to New York to pursue a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. They currently live and work in NYC.
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