PULSE is a commissioned a ten day live performance, happening nightly from 8:00–8:30pm.
 
Artist Mary Coble climbs the Cinesphere, (a large structure that houses the first permanent IMAX theater in the world) each day in order to repurpose it as a beacon of protest. A series of Morse Code messages are transmitted from the structure to receiver collaborators on the ground positioned throughout Ontario Place island who then relay the message on using their own light source. The transmitted messages are composed of statements and chants used in recent and current protests and fights for civil rights selected from the artist’s archive reflecting a connection between past and current struggles.
 
Examples include:  One Voice, Resistance is Justified When People are Occupied, Who's Streets, Our Streets, The People are Rising, No More Compromising, Black Lives Matter, Police Brutality Shut It Down, Mass Incarceration Shut it Down and For those who can't we raise our fists.
 
This collaborative gesture of solidarity merges activist and nautical language to amplify a collective call for action.
 
“PULSE is a part of FADO's epic year-long MONOMYTHS series which invites a diverse collection of artists, scholars, and activists to revise Joseph Campbell’s conception of the hero’s journey through performance art, lectures, workshops, and other offerings. This new assemblage of non-linear un-narratives proposes a cultural, political and social feminist re-visioning of the world. The MONOMYTHS perception of the universal journey dispels the notion of the lone patriarchal figure on a conquest to vanquish his demons–both inner and outer–in consideration of community, collectivity, and collaboration. The year-long MONOMYTHS project is presented in three sections starting in February 2016 and concluding in February 2017. While each MONOMYTHS stage stands alone, the work of each presenting artist is interdependent and connected. These independent visions, when stitched together through the audience’s collective presence, form an exquisite corpse of a larger experimental narrative. The series is conceived and curated by Jess Dobkin and Shannon Cochrane.”
 
Coble’s PULSE fits into the MONOMYTHS journey at Stage 7: Ordeals which took place as part of the in/future Festival at the abandoned amusement part Ontario Place, Toronto, Canada.  During this stage of the journey the hero/ine has come face to face with their personal challenge. In this moment they either confront death or face their greatest fear. The hope of this stage of the journey is that by confronting their greatest fear and conquering it, they can embark on a new life. 
 
Coble’s response to illuminating this stage of the journey suggests the necessity of challenging seemingly inaccessible structures and systems (social, political personal), while insisting on the interdependency of a collective effort by employing the communication of multiple bodies, versus attempting to cross this personal bridge alone. Refraining from a heroic narrative of conquering an iconic structure, the piece lends itself to chance and even possibly, failure.
 
PULSE is also in recognition of the lives lost and forever changed at the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.
 
The PULSE Golden Book publication was made in addition to and support of Pulse.  It was handed out for free during the in/future Festival.   The publication is a 45 page, 2x 6 inch, Golden Book designed by Lisa Kiss Design and Mary Coble.  It includes text about Pulse, a full Morse Code decoder key and examples of protest chants.
 
The PULSE Workshop occurred daily before the PULSE live performance.  The performance involved the collaboration of over 70 volunteers, including a rock climbing team, artists, activists and other generous people from the Toronto Community working as light relayers.  The workshop discussed the history of protests, Morse Code and the conceptualization of and the volunteer’s collaboration in PULSE.
 
The in/future Festival includes 40 interdisciplinary art projects. It took place at the Ontario Place-an abandoned amusement part building in the 1970’s in Toronto, Canada.
 
PULSE was commissioned and presented as part by FADO Performance Art Center-a non-profit artist-run centre for performance art in Toronto, Canada.