Interestingly enough for me the sensor technology (the I-Cube system) and Ensoniq sampler which we're so central to the first installation, Lingua_Elettrica were not used at all in the triggering process for the web event(s) at Pekina. It would have been possible, and we had discussed the possibility of re-constructing the system we used in the loading bay at Artspace but the emphasis this time fell on an investigation of the remote outside/inside environment (including the electromagnetic). We also had a new situation in that all (including Anne corresponding from New York) nervous_objects were there, the first time we had come together as a group since we first met in Tasmania two years ago.
To develop a more diverse approach to the concepts and technology we had previously exhibited, my focus on this occassion was to investigate brainwave (linked to acoustic) activity and explore the possibilities of triggering audio & image files from various cognitive unconscious/conscious states (dreaming, meditating, thought process, sleep). I wanted to use the sensor technology independently and relay the triggering process as an event (performance) which could then be exhibited online through the use of Webcam and RealAudio technologies. A different approach to the one we had previously used and to the one Cam was building at Pekina with the electronic weather station.
My initial idea was to use a web browser partitioned into three frames (windows). The first would monitor the activity of the subject using Webcam and/or RealAudio. The second would monitor the brainwave analyzer displaying a graph of the brains activity. The third would monitor the visual and audio media (audio files, Quicktime, MIDI data) triggered at any one time by the subject. Rather than consciously "pointing the finger" at an external trigger and suggesting that A (sensor) will result in B (media playback) on the event of C (touch, heat etc) or any more complex combinations of the three, I chose to explore an area where the brains interpretation and response within a psychic feedback system could sequentially and momentarily facilitate any number of events from what is a less obvious and stable condition or 'state of mind'. These events could then be viewed simultaneously as part of a multiple stream of investigation and potentially lead to a greater understanding of various cognitive processes.
Some of these ideas were brought about by conversations with Dr Evian Gordon at Westmead Hospital and then more immediately by access to the IBVA (Interactive Brainwave Visuale Analyzer) which Martin brought from Adelaide and had borrowed from friends MindFlux. This particular system was developed by Drew DeVito and/or IBVA Technologies and already has extensive MIDI/Max applications written for it (see www.ibva.com for site info).
For the two and a half weeks we were together we experimented with two processes which at this point have not completely come together. The first triggered 'System7' audio files from within the System folder of a computer. The second used a complex Max patch to trigger a series of Quicktime movies. We experimented with triggering a series of short sounds with Eye Move, Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta and Noise waves as well as quicktime movies using the Max patch supplied with the software. As part of the development process I feel we've only just scratched the surface and look forward to a continued investigation and production of new work in this area.
Other links and research includes:
- Dr Evian Gordon (see Brainart website), Westmead Hospital NSW.
Four dreams from Pekina...
Go back to introduction.