Pulsations: Making Hearts Beat

Justine Emard drew inspiration from the Japanese legend of Akai Ito, the red thread of fate, to develop the concept for the experience around the theme proposed by France: “A hymn to love.” Legend has it that an invisible thread tied to our little finger connects us to another being and sets our fate. The legend enabled the artist and the studio to develop experience principles along several distinct lines: the red thread, the hand and the beating heart. These principles influenced the concept for the exhibition, titled Pulsations. “A focus on the pulse signal – the heartbeat – is the foundation of the experience’s sensibility. Light, sound, images and movement all come together to create an energetic impulse, an inviting beacon to the future,” explains artist Justine Emard, the exhibition’s Artistic Director.

An immersive audio-visual voyage

The team reimagined the concept of the hymn, a unifying song, by creating a new hymn to love in the form of a contemporary electronic remix. The design of the exhibition is embodied in the idea of the pulse – not only the biological rhythm of the heart, but a musical rhythm that synchronizes all of the experience’s different spaces. “From the moment they enter, visitors are enveloped by an audio-visual pulse. Like a beating heart, a breath of nature, a radiant energy that connects all living things, the pulsation accompanies them throughout their journey through the Pavilion. Pulsations celebrates the invisible force that connects human beings and their environment. Between art and nature, it invites us to feel our profound connection with the living world. Synchronized to the same beat, the musical pulse follows that of the heart, resulting in an audio-visual journey from space to space,” Justine Emard added. The overarching synchronized audio track accompanies the visitor at a constant tempo from start to finish. GSM and Justine Emard imagined different audio creations, then commissioned by the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/musique) for each tableau in the experience.

Ambitious attendance goals

The exhibition, sponsored by COFREX, features eight immersive tableaux created with the participation of several major partners: Louis Vuitton, Axa, Ninapharm, Vins d’Alsace and Dior. The eight tableaux are linked by a common thread, the pulse. The tableaux last three and a half minutes each and are synchronized at the same tempo. The exhibition is experienced as a single melody evoking the steady stream of visitors. “The technical challenge is to welcome 2500 people per hour during the six months of the Expo, to reach the ambitious goal of 3 million visitors,” said Fabien Lasserre.

Celebrating past and present heritage

In the exhibition, heritage elements are seen alongside contemporary creations – everything from sculptures by Rodin to a chimera rescued from the fire that engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral to digital art installations imagined by Justine Emard and GSM. Each artistic medium is meticulously synchronized to create a total artistic experience that immerses visitors in the energy of the pulse. In the final space, the duo created a tableau titled “Across the Archipelago, the Great Pulsation.” Combining heritage pieces and a multimedia show, the installation is a powerful final immersion in the concept of love. Composed of three conceptual islands depicting the powerful bonds connecting France and Japan through cultural and natural symbols, this archipelago illustrates the ways in which the two countries approach heritage preservation and the protection of biodiversity. The islands present a narrative linking works rescued from the fires at Shuri Castle and Notre-Dame Cathedral; connecting the histories of the sanctuary of Itsukushima and its famous torii with the Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel; and creating an encounter between the ecosystems of Japan and French Polynesia. France and Japan thus resonate together in an emotionally rich imagining of the future.