Video of the Adobe Heart Tree launch was shot and editted by Trapdoor Productions in Sydney
How did you (and other collaborators) come up with the concept?
Adobe gave us a budget and two things to do; ignite passion and inspire. That was it! Then affectors, S1T2, Supervixen and Peter Brew Bevan came back with 6 different ways to affect passion and inspiration in an audience. Clare Cahill showed me a lot of respect and trust when she asked, "which one does your gut tell you is right Matt"?
Chris Panzetta from S1T2 had the initial idea of the heart tree. We sat down and expanded on the idea with Amigo and Amigo asking each other , "what else can we do"? and "who else can we bring in"? Which lead to including Ben Romalis to compose 27 unique musical arrangements at different BPMs to match to people's heart beats. These were played alongside 27 different animated light and colour sequences.
It is at the core of the affectors creative process to bring a diverse group of individuals together who make things in different mediums and agree and disagree respectfully until we have something everyone can feel is going to be great.
As a creative, how can you evoke an emotional reaction from someone who is interacting with your work and also a sense of connection between a person and an object - like the tree?
I believe to engage people mentally and emotionally it's important to create something symbolic that resonates deeply within people and then let them express them self through it. That is the connection facilitated by the tree. When looking for symbols that touch people's hearts I am helped by my study of mythology and story. Story is key to S1T2's purpose which is what makes them a joy to work with. Mythology for me is as close to truth as I can find for if a story has lived this long it means that it continues to move people's hearts and minds in personal ways that nurture and assist them through life. Specifically in the case of the heart tree, most myths and fairy tales use the woods as the place where the main character gets in touch with their own nature and grows in courage. That is what we wanted to happen to people when they engaged with the tree.
