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And the Winners Are…

Congratulations on helping the Heart Machine raise $2,200 towards much needed materials!  Here are the winners of the June 24th raffle:
- 1 Free Burning Man 2010 Ticket ($300): Stephan Tangey*+
– 1 Free Ticket to Harvest Festival 2010 ($70): Linda Christina*+
– 1 IPod Nano ($169+): Michael Taranko*
– 1 1Pod Touch ($219+): Jen Polyzotis*
– 1 Asus Eee PC 1005HAB Netbook ($379+): Paul Akerman
– 5 Prolynkz Media Players for Playing Music and Watching Video ($79): Lara & Aubrey* / Carson Foster(twice!) / John Yoxall* / Drake
– 1 Polaroid DVF-130GC Pocket Video Camera: Adina Douglas*
– 1 Custom Made Vest from Embody Clothing & Accessories ($200+): Adam Smith
– 2 One Hour Massages (Toronto): Megan McDonald*+ / Chris Williams*+
– 1 Hair Cut from TRG Hair Studio (Toronto): Alex Ho*+
– $75 Gift Certificate for Custom Knitting from Claire Dalmyn: Tim Harris*+
– 1 Hour Private Fire Spinning Lesson from New Model Circus Army: Mark Gorcey*+
- Saturday Afternoon Private Sail Cruise for 4 around Toronto Island: Jen Polyzotis*+
- 4 Gift Certificates for Intuitive Tarot Reading & Energy Healing Session ($50+): Maria Pelufo / Robert Shields* / Nora Kerr / Chris Williams*
* indicates winners not present to pick up their prizes; prizes will be mailed or delivery arranged.
+ indicates prizes which are delivered via email notification to the winner and donor.

Get Out Your Favorite Steam Punk of Dusty Coat Tails for Our June 5th Event!

Start Time: Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 9:00pm
Location: 99 Sudbury (Just South of Queen & Dovercourt)  View Map
Price: The Choice of $12 or $15 Donation at the Door / $20 after 10:30PM

9:00PM – 9:30PM : Mingle and meet the artists and learn about the Heart Machine
9:30PM :  Ignition of the Heart Machine Artery & performances (early participants will have a chance to light the flame effect!)
10:30PM : Killer DJs hit the floor until 3AM (JELO, dBOOM, Martin Fazekas, T-MINUS)

Come early and ***WIN A FREE*** ticket to Burning Man 2010, Harvest Festival 2010 and many more door prizes in support of Toronto’s very own HUGE 60 foot flame effects art project granted official Burning Man honorarium status.

More details…


The Heart Machine June 24 Event Has Some Great Auction Items Like Free Tickets to Burning Man and Harvest Festival!

Help Support  fire arts in Canada by making a donation to the Heart Machine project.  100% of your money will go to the purchase of materials that will be used to create this majestic work of fire art and the cost of getting it to Burning Man 2010 as an official Burning Man 2010 Honorarium Installation.

Date: June 24, 2010 8PM – 3Am  /   $15 for one participant ticket and $30 for three participant tickets

There is also an onsite event that includes: link to item details  & images

- 1 Free Burning Man 2010 Ticket ($300)
- 1 Free Ticket to Harvest Festival 2010 ($70)
- 1 IPod Nano ($169+)
- 1 1Pod Touch ($219+)
- 1 Asus Eee PC 1005HAB Netbook ($379+)
- 5 Prolynkz Media Players for Playing Music and Watching Video ($79)
- 1 Polaroid DVF-130GC Pocket Video Camera
- 1 Custom Made Vest from Embody Clothing & Accessories ($200+)
- 2 One Hour Massages (Toronto)
- 1 Hair Cut from TRG Hair Studio (Toronto)
- $75 Gift Certificate for Custom Knitting from Claire Dalmyn
- 1 Hour Private Fire Spinning Lesson from New Model Circus Army
- Saturday Afternoon Private Sail Cruise for 4 around Toronto Island.


The Check Out Our Facebook Page & First Video of Crew Prototyping in the Workshop!

April 24th was our first weekend prototyping in Dian’s workshop the smaller components of The Heart Machine; the 25 interactive participation stations needed to activate the flame effects. The coloring and finishing touch ups will be added after all 25 are assembled. Next are the 4 flame effect arteries and then The Heart!  Check out our project Facebook page and watch the video THM First Weekend Prototyping


The Heart Machine is an Official Burning Man 2010 Honorarium Installation

We are pleased to announce Canada’s very own large scale interactive flame effects project – the Heart Machine –  is one of 36 official Burning Man 2010 Honorarium Installations.  Now the we need your help and donations to complete to project, transport it down to Black Rock City and ship her back home to Toronto.

Every year Burning Man allocates a percentage of its revenue from ticket sales to funding select art projects that are collaborative, community-oriented and interactive. They do this in order to support the Burning Man art community, and to facilitate the creation of outstanding art for Black Rock City. The vast majority of art installations on the playa, however, are not funded. In 2010, a percentage of your hard-earned ticket money helped to fund the 36 honorarium art installations, for all Burning Man participants to enjoy.

Check out the Heart Machine on the newly updated Burning Man 2010 Honorarium Installations website as well as the other 35 inspiring projects.


Prototyping Interactive Electronics Arrived – April 14, 2010

In addition to project management, fundraising and logistics/transportation, the heart machine project has three distinct  build stream teams.  One of the build streams is the Electronics & Software team.  Go figure they would get their cool toys shipped and received first.  Here is the package of prototype electronic components we are using to test the interactive pieces of the project: 20 interaction stations with 8 controllers for the flame effects. Let the debugging begin!


The Heart Machine Receives on Playa Gift from Burning Man Arts Grant Committee - March 18, 2010


This year the Burning Man Arts Grant Committee received 271 applications for art grants.  Of these applications, only a small portion of art grants could be awarded and the selection decisions difficult given all the fantastic art submissions.  In lieu of an art grant, the Burning Man Arts Grant Committee is gifting the Heart Machine project on-playa heavy equipment support and the propane fuel required to run the Heart Machine.  All we need to do now as a community is to get the art piece to the playa.

The Original Heart Machine Post – February 3, 2010

This is the original post and proposal submitted to the Burning Man Arts Grant Committee.  Since this proposal we have updated our sculptural concept diagrams and how people interact with the Heart Machine.  Please check out the Project Updates page and Photos & Videos page for the latest on the project design, interactivity and recent activities.  See you on the playa!