Caution! Prolonged Exposure Can Cause Scarring!

Not for sale

An installation by pARTners Mary Atwood and Jim Smith

The concept behind our piece was that love is the greatest biohazard known to man. When we “fall in love” our brains are flooded with unusual amounts of some chemicals and hormonal activity, which interferes with our decision making processes.

This confused condition can easily lead usually smart people to sometimes do stupid things. This, in turn, creates emotional stress. Acute emotional stress is one of the leading causes ofleft ventricular contractile dysfunction, myocardial ischemia, or disturbances of cardiac rhythm.

Thus, the main focus of our work was “broken hearts” and why they occur.

We created a “biohazard containment unit” which allowed for interaction, a “chemistry” display of the various chemicals and hormones associated with “love”, and engaged our visitors in discussions on the topics of love, heartbreak, brain chemistry, and hormonal influences on human behavior.