World Premiere Of Multimodal Brain Orchestra
Prague, hosted the world premiere of the, wait for it, wait for it, OK… Brain Orchestra. The Multimodal Brain Orchestra, led by both a traditional and an “emotional conductor”, preformed music and VJ’d using the “band’s” brain waves and heart rate.
Four members of the “orchestra” are equipped with special WWII Fighter Plane helmets with electrodes that take a real-time “photo” of the brain’s electrical activity, called an electroencephalograph. The graphs of those brain waves are projected onto one of two large screens above the orchestra. The performers launch sounds or affect their frequencies and modulations based on two well-characterised effects seen in EEGs: the steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP), and the so-called P300 signal. Two other members view a mini TV, with flashing rows and columns of letters, and told to look for a particular letter, which is then translated into sound.
The whole thing kind of creeps us out to be honest, but wouldn’t it be great to control the filter and resonance of a 303 with your mind? (Insert Dr. Evil laugh here!)
More information on the Multimodal Brain Orchestra.
