Dario Robleto’s The First Time, the Heart (A Portrait of Life 1854-1913) is a series of exquisite photolithographs executed on paper that has been hand sooted with candle flames. The prints bear the linear tracings of heartbeats made by physicians and inventors in the 19th century, offering an intimate encounter with distant and forgotten lives.
The First Time, the Heart was on display as part of the 2023 exhibition The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto, which explored the empathetic nature of technology. Rooted in Robleto’s longstanding fascination with the clinical and cultural history of the human heart, this exhibition was a multisensory encounter between art and science that brought together ten years of the artist’s prints, sculptures, video, and sound installations. The works drew upon a wide range of technologies of peering and listening—from cardiographs to radio telescopes—seeking to attune viewers to the material traces of life at scales ranging from the intimate to the universal.
Read more about the project in an essay by the artist.
The Heart’s Knowledge marked the culmination of Robleto’s five-year engagement as Artist-at-Large in Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. This exhibition reflected the spirit of that enterprise, expanding conversations around ethics and empathy in scientific fields, and invited us to look and listen to the life that surrounds us with curiosity and compassion.
