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Eunoia from Lisa Park on Vimeo.
Eunoia by artist Lisa Park is a performative piece that produces music through data. During the performance, the artist herself wears a NeuroSky EEG headset that measures her brain activities and convert the data into sound waves that vibrate dishes of water set on top of speakers.
Data collected here includes frequencies, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma and Theta and the emotion/mental states, “Attention” and “Meditation”. The sound waves, depending on their wavelength and amplitude, would create different sounds and visuals (the water particles glistening as the dishes are bouncing up and down due to the vibrations of the speaker beneath).
I especially find this project interesting because of the way Park translates her emotion and mental state both visually and audibly. The result is a beautiful, serene piece of computational music that in a sense allows you to connect with the artist. I also admire the randomness that derives from the “instruments.” The way in which the water droplets are going to move in reaction to the brainwaves and even the data collected here (brain activities) are rather unpredictable.
Park’s concentration on people and their activities along with her interest in quantifying, visualizing such data are successfully manifested in this particular project. The project after its creation in 2013 was followed by a sequel, “Euronia II” in 2014.
More information on the project can be found on the Project Page