Goal/Idea

To hack/repurpose a toy EEG headband for applications in generative/installation art.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a typically non-invasive way to measure the brain’s overall electrical activity. Within the past decade, EEG technologies have made their way onto the consumer market as meditation monitoring tools and brain-training games. This has given tinkerers relatively cheap and reliable access to brain data. Toy EEG headbands like the ones found in Mindflex are able to be rewired with Arduino. By plugging the Arduino-headband rig into the computer, one may send the headband’s realtime readings via serial bus into software like OpenFrameworks or Processing.

My goal is to use EEG to create an artwork or system that not only reacts to the viewer’s brain activity, but also provides an output that directly affects that activity. This output should affect any of the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch) – ideally multiple at a time. This two-way interaction would ideally allow the viewer - or rather, user - to not only control the artwork in a novel way, but also control their own mind through a strange form of mindful meditation.

Safety Precautions

Since I am dealing with electricity in extreme proximity to the brain, extra caution is necessary - especially when handling the Arduino-headband rig. During use, the Arduino may only draw power from the laptop; no wall power allowed. The presence of electricity also means that people suffering from epilepsy may not use the headband.

Possible Configurations

configs

Notes:

  • The headband that comes with the Mind Flex games provides the best balance between affordability and data robustness.
  • The Mind Flex headband exposes eight pieces of data: one signal strength value, five filtered frequency/power band values, and two “aggregated” values for easy access to interpreted readings. The robustness/accuracy of this data will in turn determine the robustness of the artwork/system.
  • Normally, the headband is wireless when used with the game; however, the wireless radio only sends aggregate values and not frequency values. It may be possible to hack together a DIY wireless system to allow for more flexibility when designing, for example, art installations.

Visual Concept

I decided to prototype some motion designs for this week which could form the visual language for the installation.