Inner Force
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Shu-Min Lin's work Inner Force applies to the practice of the wu-wei principle of Taoism, which means "action without competitive or selfish goals". A pool of water is projected on the floor. Participants have to compete to fill its surface with lotus flowers or to catch as many of the carp swimming in the water as possible. Electroencephalogram probes are attached to the viewers’ heads to measure the alpha wave activity of the brain. Forcing things does not work, the more peaceful the posture and the mind, the more successful the effort.
Reminded me of two "calm" projects i've tried recently: - To experience Wave UFO, by Mariko Mori Wave UFO, viewers are outfitted with electrodes, which gather brainwave data. This information is transformed into visual imagery and projected onto the screen. The forms change shape and color in response to three types of brainwaves. Alpha (blue) waves indicate wakeful relaxation, Beta (pink) waves indicate alertness or agitation, and Theta (yellow) waves indicate a dreamlike state. - Relax To Win, a game where victory is achieved only by out-relaxing your opponent. Electrodes on your hand measure your galvanic skin response and send the data by wireless connection to a PC or cell phone screen. I played with it at Next last November and lost. Of course. Also (but never tested): Inner Force can be seen until August 27 as part of Ars 06, at Kiasma, Helsinki. Image from Hotlog. Check also Shu-Min Lin other piece, Glass Ceiling. |
Régine, what a surprise that you admit comments now! Gives me the chance to give you my most respect and admiration for your work! Your faithful reader,
Stylewalker.
Journey to Wild Divine is a commercial product (Mac, PC) retailing around USD150. The game is a nicely done (using Flash and 3D animated sequences) wander-around-and-do-things type of game. You can eventually complete all of the nearly 50 activities and "win," or you can just enjoy the games and the scenery.
The activities involve raising and lowering skin conductance and heart rate, or, more figuratively, your "energy levels." For instance, you can blow on a pinwheel on the screen, and it will spin. Really.
There is a second add-on game available, and a third one planned.
I have it, and have played it, and there's some really cool, fun, exciting things in it. On the downside, the game uses intensely New Age language that I find a bit repellent. (Deepak Chopra is involved, but calling the skin sensors "Magic Rings" and the biofeedback processor box a "Lightstone" is a bit too too precious, to me.)
The game has a community forum web comment board, and the manufacturers say they want people to hack the Lightstone, so I am writing some code for Mac. (There's already Windows code and Java code.)
As far as biofeedback stuff goes, the Lightstone is inexpensive and well-made, and the programming interface is straightforward. People are hacking it to use with Second Life, and if someone wants to do programs that deal with biofeedback, the Lightstone is cheaper and better than many other devices. It also comes with a free game.
I was pointed to the following by a friend a little while back. Real interesting electro-encephalogram helmet they have, and applications too.
http://mindgames.mle.ie/projects/cerebus/projectCerebus.htm
http://mindgames.mle.ie/
The same friend had worked on some of the basic technology which would be necessary for making a very high resolution electro-encephalogram as well; one that would be good enough to capture enough data for a "snapshot"--in a way--of the brain at a specific time. Never really got the details from him, but it sounded interesting.