Happy New Year - On Air Garden Series, 2024.
A single channel game engine video and sound, a projector,
EEG devices, resonance speakers and a system computer.
"Happy New Year - On Air Garden Series" is a cinematic interactive installation that utilizes a game engine to create a fictionalized landscape. Amidst the cheerfulness of celebrating the New Year around the world between December 31, 2023 and January 1, 2024, the piece reminds us of situations around the world that are suffering from war, disaster, and climate crisis.
Visitors enter this surreal landscape wearing a wireless EEG device. Once they reach a state of relaxation, a spectacular fireworks display takes place. The work reflects on the paradoxical situation in which the positively biased virtual worlds created by today's AI technologies can make us even more blind to the darker realities of our apathy. The fictionalized utopian images in the work are reminiscent of Chaekgeori(Korean traditional still-life painting that depicts books along with various other objects) and Western Cabinet of curiosities, connecting our world of war, disaster, death, and ruin to the Buddhist Wheel of Reincarnation, where heaven and hell, birth and death, coexist.
Visitors enter this surreal landscape wearing a wireless EEG device. Once they reach a state of relaxation, a spectacular fireworks display takes place. The work reflects on the paradoxical situation in which the positively biased virtual worlds created by today's AI technologies can make us even more blind to the darker realities of our apathy. The fictionalized utopian images in the work are reminiscent of Chaekgeori(Korean traditional still-life painting that depicts books along with various other objects) and Western Cabinet of curiosities, connecting our world of war, disaster, death, and ruin to the Buddhist Wheel of Reincarnation, where heaven and hell, birth and death, coexist.
Happy New Year - On Air Garden Series: A Neuro-Interactive System Workflow
"Happy New Year (2024)," part of the On Air Garden series, is a multi-agent BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) artwork that utilizes real-time EEG monitoring. The artwork records brain activity from two participants using wireless headbands equipped with sensors at the AF7 and AF8 positions, capturing brainwaves at a sampling rate of 256 times per second. The collected data is transmitted to a computer via Bluetooth and precisely synchronized using the Lab Streaming Layer (LSL).
This artwork employs hyperscanning technology to explore the interaction between the brainwaves of two participants. Hyperscanning is a technique that simultaneously records and analyzes neural activity from two or more brains, allowing researchers to study the communication and connection between brains. In 'Happy New Year,' hyperscanning enables the artwork to serve as a medium for interaction between the participants.
During the preprocessing stage, the OpenViBE software processes the brainwave signals. A Butterworth filter is applied to isolate alpha waves* and beta waves**. The software calculates the level of relaxation by evaluating the ratio of these two brainwaves of each participant. The processed data is then transmitted to Unreal Engine 5 using the OSC (Open Sound Control) protocol. This enables the creation of a reactive fireworks display and sound based on the participants' level of relaxation.
