Heartbeat Drum Machine

The Swedish Heartchild Foundation is a small non-profit supporting children and families affected by congenital heart disease. CHD–4 was designed to raise awareness and donations. Created with the help of audiovisual artist Love Hultén, the drum machine was built based on the heartbeats of four children with different heart defects, as though the machine itself had arrhythmia. Each ECG was decoded into a sequencer, enabling the user to play and create music with the children’s heartbeats. It put the problem in the hands of potential donors and made it possible for anyone to experience what happens when small hearts break.