Oct 15 2025

Synthetic Legacies | Analog Heart

Wed | 6-8PM

As part of the Synthetic Legacies series organized in collaboration with artist Davide Balula, SI is pleased to present Analog Heart, a CPR/First-Aid training workshop and public concert where active participants and viewing audiences alike can learn life-saving skills.

While workshop participants receive their training with the aid of certified instructor Zachary Caruthers, musicians Russell E. L. Butler and Mali Mase will create a live ambient score, extracting inner-body growls and fluid sounds from their analog synthesizers. The general public is invited to enter, linger, and learn during the workshop’s duration.

Rooted in the idea that legacy building is a creative endeavor, this event approaches information transference as an embodied experience, where knowledge is practiced and lived rather than data-driven. Echoing artists whose practices resist digitization and uphold archives grounded in oral and physical histories, it suggests that while art conservation focuses on physical artifacts and subsequent data points, preservation must extend to care for the work’s living custodians and companions.

Registration for the 2-hour workshop is free but limited. An optional CPR/AED professional certification will be available for those who complete the required online pre-training.

To register as an active participant in the workshop, please contact rsvp@swissinstitute.net.

Zachary Caruthers has been an American Heart Association (AHA) Instructor for nearly 15 years.

Russell E. L. Butler is an artist and art worker. Their practice focuses on sound, performance, and text. Russell’s work investigates deep listening practices, experimental cultural practices, and the utility of archives. Russell lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. 

Mali Mase is a NYC based producer who creates most of his music under the moniker Sweater On Polo. His music foregrounds the live wire hardware approach, with most of his inspiration being derived from 1980’s chicago house music and 1990’s techno. He’s able to capture the old school styles of the past and blend them into a fresh & modern context, telling an intergenerational story using machines. Although dance music is where most of his artistry is focused, his musical range can often expand into the realms of synth punk, ambient music, and noise.

Davide Balula is an artist and animal trainer based in New York.  His work is often developed in collaboration with algae, fungi, A.I. systems, fire, chefs or dancers, merging both organic and synthetic ecologies. Since 2018, he has trained various A.I. surrogates in collaboration with philosophers, artists, critics, and poets. He is a co-founder and active participant in various community-based environmental initiatives, and also edits the online poetry publication Viseu.Us.

Image: Davide Balula, Analog Heart, 2025. Courtesy the artist