Brain-Computer Interfaces for Artistic Expression

Artists have been using BCIs for artistic expression since the 1960s. Their interest and creativity is now increasing because of the availability of affordable BCI devices and software that does not require them to invest extensive time in getting the BCI to work or tuning it to their application. Designers of artistic BCIs are often ahead of more traditional BCI researchers in ideas on using BCIs in multimodal and multiparty contexts, where multiple users are involved, and where robustness and efficiency are not the main matters of concern. The aim of this workshop is to look at current (research) activities in BCIs for artistic expression and to identify research areas that are of interest for both BCI and HCI researchers as well as artists/designers of BCI applications

#Scanners 2 – The MOMENT: a new brain-controlled movie

While many still consider interactive movies an unrealistic idea, current delivery platforms like Netflix, commercial VR, and the proliferation of wearable sensors mean that adaptive and responsive entertainment experiences are an immediate reality. Our prior work demonstrated a brain-responsive movie that showed different views of scenes depending on levels of attention and meditation produced by a commercialised home-entertainment brain sensor. Based on lessons learned, this demonstration exhibits the new interactions designed for our new brain-controlled movie, The MOMENT, being released in 2018

Investigating the Impact of a Dual Musical Brain-Computer Interface on Interpersonal Synchrony: A Pilot Study

This study looked into how effective a Musical Brain-Computer Interface (MBCI) can be in providing feedback about synchrony between two people. Using a double EEG setup, we compared two types of musical feedback; one that adapted in real-time based on the inter-brain synchrony between participants (Neuroadaptive condition), and another music that was randomly generated (Random condition). We evaluated how these two conditions were perceived by 8 dyads (n = 16) and whether the generated music could influence the perceived connection and EEG synchrony between them. The findings indicated that Neuroadaptive musical feedback could potentially boost synchrony levels between people compared to Random feedback, as seen by a significant increase in EEG phase-locking values. Additionally, the real-time measurement of synchrony was successfully validated and musical neurofeedback was generally well-received by the participants. However, more research is needed for conclusive results due to the small sample size. This study is a stepping stone towards creating music that can audibly reflect the level of synchrony between individuals.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Supporting the Experience of Stakeholders of Multimedia Art – Towards an Ontology

Part 1: Beyond Computers: Wearables, Humans, and Things - WHAT!International audienceWe introduce the rapid change of the visual art ecosystem, triggered by current science and technology development. ICT enables new multimedia based an interactive art forms, with an increasing variety of stakeholders. We provide examples of audience involvement, of immersion, and of brain-computer interaction as a new paradigm for participation. We point to the use of new material dimensions, as well as to expanding shared creation and cognition. We also point to opportunities to apply this development to accommodate special needs. In order to support the dissemination of these possibilities, we advocate the development of a task-modeling based ontology to describe, analyse, and support the evolving art ecosystem

GROUPTHINK: Telepresence and Agency During Live Performance

Live performers often describe "playing to the audience" as shifts in emphasis, timing and even content according to perceived audience reactions. Traditional staging allows the transmission of physiological signals through the audience's eyes, skin, odor, breathing, vocalizations and motions such as dancing, stamping and clapping, some of which are audible. The Internet and other mass media broaden access to live performance, but they efface traditional channels for "liveness," which we specify as physiological feedback loops that bind performers and audience through shared agency. During online events, contemporary performers enjoy text and icon-based feedback, but current technology limits expression of physiological reactions by remote audiences. Looking to a future Internet of Neurons where humans and AI co-create via neurophysiological interfaces, this paper examines the possibility of reestablishing audience agency during live performance by using hemodynamic sensors while exploring the potential of AI as a creative collaborator

Biointeractive and experimental performance in networks: the complex dialectic of aesthetic decolonization

En este artículo, proponemos reflexionar sobre la urgencia de decolonizar las prácticas artísticas en Internet, sobre todo en este último tiempo cuando la pandemia de la enfermedad por coronavirus (COVID-19) pone en evidencia la inequidad en la distribución de los recursos. Es ineludible construir otras maneras de interacción y de diálogo, lo que requiere la configuración de nuevas experiencias relacionales para las prácticas compartidas entre arte, ciencia y tecnología. Caracterizamos el hacer decolonial como aquel que se desarrolla —en un campo dinámico de tensiones disciplinares— mediante acciones en la producción relacional y en la trayectoria situada, las que determinan una disposición que permite, en principio, emanciparse tanto de los hábitos totalizantes de lo disciplinar como de la enajenación simbólica y mediática de los nuevos escenarios en línea.In this article, we propose to reflect on the urgency of decolonizing artistic practices on the Internet, especially in the latter time when the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) highlights inequity in the distribution of resources. It is inescapable to build other forms of interaction and dialogue, which requires the configuration of new relational experiences for practices shared between art, science and technology. We characterize decolonial making as one that develops —in a dynamic field of disciplinary tensions— through actions in relational production and in the path located, which determine a disposition that allows, in principle, emancipation from both the totalizing habits of the disciplinary and the symbolic and media alienation of the new online scenarios.Facultad de Arte