Virtual Fieldwork @ University of Leicester, BA, BSc Creative Computing
Today the COGITO team met virtually in Leicester to present our work as part of Balandino Di Donato’s course on creative computing. It was an opportunity of me to revisit the artistic history and context of the work we do with 1+1=3 using the EEGsynth. My brain really is a sieve, however, and more than once did I excitely mail Samon Takahashi about my discoveries, to which he had to remind me these were already part of our research and repetoire, e.g. our The Electric Brain exhibition at the Charcot Library (photos can be found here). Still, I was able to give myself time to read through some interesting literature I had on my reading table, in particular:
- Douglas Kahn (2013) Earth Sound Earth Signal
- Daphne Oram (1972) An individual Note
- David Roosenboom (2003) Collapsing Distinctions: Interacting within Fields of Intelligence on Interstellar Scales and Parallel Musical Models
My own abstract is the following. I will add those of the other presenters later, once I have their approval.
Interstellar Music
I will introduce the use of EEG measurements, as well as other electromagnetic sources, in art and music. Starting with seminal EEG-based performances from the 60s and 70s by Alvin Lucier, David Roosenboom and Erkki Kurenniem, I will show how invisible electromagnetic signals became part of human experience through art. We then arrive at the contemporary conception of feedback loops in brain-computer-interfaces, in particular brain-computer-music-interfaces. In such scientific and artistic installations, our human experience is integrated as our brain becomes both instrument and audience, subject and object. Using our performances using EEG in sound and music, I will then show how the Cogito project presents the latest development in artistic use of EEG signals, extending the feedback system beyond the brain, the earth and even our solar system. I will end with a reflection by David Roosenboom about how music actually provides tests for terrestrial and extraterrestrial intelligence, and a paradigm for communication.
Aims and outcomes
The fieldwork is divided into two sessions. It aims to provide insights into the making of collaborative SciArt projects by media artist Daniela de Paulis. The students will learn about the process of sharing methodologies and knowledge amongst artists and scientists. Students will participate in a virtual field trip to international scientific facilities in the field of neuroscience and radio astronomy, and to learn about data collecting and data analysis. Focusing on innovative combinations of artistic and scientific methods, the two sessions will offer the students an overview of different approaches in data collecting and data analysis.
Contributors
- Sandro Bocci – Filmmaker
- Dr Paola Castaño – Sociologist, British Academy / Cardiff University
- Dr Balandino Di Donato, module convenor
- Dr Guillaume Dumas – Université de Montréal
- Prof Michael Garrett – Director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics (JBCA)
- Dr Maria Noemi Iacolina – Italian Space Agency and and Sardinia Deep Space Antenna
- Dr Andrea Melis (IT, engineer, Sardinia Radio Telescope – SRT)
- Mario Armando Natali – Engineer and Radio Operator
- Dr Robert Oostenveld – Radboud University
- Daniela de Paulis – Interdisciplinary Artist and Radio Operator
- Dr Stephen Whitmarsh – ICM, Paris
- Dr Roy Smits, radio astronomer, writer