The Use of Human Brain Activity (Electroencephalogram) in the Making of Art

Recording EEG from awake humans has been possible for nearly 100 years, with the majority of development being in medical science for the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. The potential use of the EEG as a way of reading or controlling another person’s mind has however become a staple of fiction writers for even longer. In recent years with the increasing power of computers and reduced cost of processing, small cheap, non-clinical EEG systems have appeared on the market. Whilst their use has been limited mainly to the computer gaming world, artists in many disciplines have incorporated the ‘output’ generated by these devices as part of their art project. Null Object: Gustav Metzger thinks about nothing: London Fieldworks and The mutual wave machine: Lia Chavez and Matthias Oostrik are two notable examples. A question remains though as to how much of the art is the EEG itself as opposed to that of the analysis, processing and presentation directed by the artist? In answering those questions I plan to demonstrate: Live recording of human brain activity (EEG) with emphasis on high quality broad waveform (wide filter) data acquisition and its manipulation by simple measure such as eye closure and hyperventilation and sleepiness; analysis of EEG data, both online and offline and how this can be used to control a number of peripheral devices such as 2D plotter, 3D printer, light projection and sound generation. In the discussion of the demonstration and the paper I wish to: show the potential of EEG recording and creativity; point out some of the common pitfalls in recording EEG data including, poor technique, artefacts and external noise, which can drown out any true EEG activity; discuss whether the best BCI currently available is the human hand; speak of the ability to over-manipulate the data so what is left is an alias of the original and has little or no bearing on real brain activity (a real danger with post hoc analysis or processing) and question the need for minimum standards of reporting methods when creating EEG art to allow critique and reproduction in keeping with general scientific protocol.

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Christopher E. G. Moore

Conference

Publication date: July 2019

Publication date (Print): July 2019

Pages: 353-359

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[0001]Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth

University of Chichester, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2019.67

SO-VID: 4b9ce2eb-0c5e-47a0-906f-be0303d19213

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of EVA London 2019

Conference acronym: EVA 2019

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Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 8 - 11 July 2019

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2019.67

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

E. BasarC. Basar-ErogluS. KarakasM. Schurmann 2001 Gamma, alpha, delta and theta oscillations govern cognitive processes Int. J Psychophysiology 39 241 248
L. ChavezM. Oostrik 2014 The mutual wave machine https://vimeo.com/96287858 retrieved 18 March 2019 )
J. G. Cruz-GarzaJ. BrantleyS. NakagomeK. KontsonM. MegjhaniD. RobletoJ. Contreras-Vidal 2017 Deployment of Mobile EEG Technology in an Art Museum Setting: Evaluation of Signal Quality and Usability. Frontiers in human neuroscience 11 527 doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00527 retrieved 18 March 2019 )
S. DikkerL. WanI. DavidescoL. KaggenM. OostrikJ. McClintockJ. RowlandG. MichalareasJ. J. Van BavelM. DingD. Poeppel 2017 Brain-to-Brain Synchrony Tracks Real-World Dynamic Group Interactions in the Classroom Curr Biol 8 May 27 9): 1375 1380 doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.04.002 Epub 27 April 2017
B. J. Fisch 1999 Fisch & Spehlmann’s EEG Primer 3rd edn Elsevier Amsterdam
E. Fisher 2017 Gustav Metzger: iconoclasm and interdisciplinarity Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 42 1-2 4 29
B. GilchristJ. Joelson 2012 Null object Gustav Metzger thinks about nothing Blackdog London
O. GingrichE. EmetsA. Renaud 2018 Aura: A holographic brainwave interface Proceedings of EVA London (Electronic Visualisation and the Arts) 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.14236/ewic/EVA2018.66 retrieved 18 March 2019 )
D. Hockney 1989 Fax Art https://thedavidhockneyfoundation.org/foundation retrieved 18 March 2019 )
Hooker 2011 Audio accompaniment http://www.charliehooker.co.uk/cat/8/1/media retrieved 18 March 2019 )
N. Lambert 2012 Null objective: London fieldworks and Metzger’s brain B GilchristJ. Joelson Null object Gustav Metzger thinks about nothing Blackdog London 58 74
F. Leger 1924 Ballet mechanique http://ubu.com/film/leger_ballet.html retrieved 18 March 2019 )
F. MonoriS. Oniga 2018 Processing EEG signals acquired from a consumer grade BCI device Carpathian Journal of Electronic and Computer Engineering 11 2 29 34
H. G. WieserK. SchindlerD. Zumsteg 2006 EEG in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Clin.Neurophysiol 117 5 935 51
Y. HanY. MaL. ZhuY. ZhangL. LiW. ZhengJ. GuoYongqiang 2018 Study on Mind Controlled Robotic Arms by Collecting and Analyzing Brain Alpha Waves Advances in Intelligent Systems Research 143

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Comment on this article

[1] E. BasarC. Basar-ErogluS. KarakasM. Schurmann 2001 Gamma, alpha, delta and theta oscillations govern cognitive processes Int. J Psychophysiology 39 241 248

[2] L. ChavezM. Oostrik 2014 The mutual wave machine https://vimeo.com/96287858 retrieved 18 March 2019 )

[3] J. G. Cruz-GarzaJ. BrantleyS. NakagomeK. KontsonM. MegjhaniD. RobletoJ. Contreras-Vidal 2017 Deployment of Mobile EEG Technology in an Art Museum Setting: Evaluation of Signal Quality and Usability. Frontiers in human neuroscience 11 527 doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00527 retrieved 18 March 2019 )

[4] S. DikkerL. WanI. DavidescoL. KaggenM. OostrikJ. McClintockJ. RowlandG. MichalareasJ. J. Van BavelM. DingD. Poeppel 2017 Brain-to-Brain Synchrony Tracks Real-World Dynamic Group Interactions in the Classroom Curr Biol 8 May 27 9): 1375 1380 doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.04.002 Epub 27 April 2017

[5] B. J. Fisch 1999 Fisch & Spehlmann’s EEG Primer 3rd edn Elsevier Amsterdam

[6] E. Fisher 2017 Gustav Metzger: iconoclasm and interdisciplinarity Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 42 1-2 4 29

[7] B. GilchristJ. Joelson 2012 Null object Gustav Metzger thinks about nothing Blackdog London

[8] O. GingrichE. EmetsA. Renaud 2018 Aura: A holographic brainwave interface Proceedings of EVA London (Electronic Visualisation and the Arts) 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.14236/ewic/EVA2018.66 retrieved 18 March 2019 )

[9] D. Hockney 1989 Fax Art https://thedavidhockneyfoundation.org/foundation retrieved 18 March 2019 )

[10] Hooker 2011 Audio accompaniment http://www.charliehooker.co.uk/cat/8/1/media retrieved 18 March 2019 )

[11] N. Lambert 2012 Null objective: London fieldworks and Metzger’s brain B GilchristJ. Joelson Null object Gustav Metzger thinks about nothing Blackdog London 58 74

[12] F. Leger 1924 Ballet mechanique http://ubu.com/film/leger_ballet.html retrieved 18 March 2019 )

[13] F. MonoriS. Oniga 2018 Processing EEG signals acquired from a consumer grade BCI device Carpathian Journal of Electronic and Computer Engineering 11 2 29 34

[14] H. G. WieserK. SchindlerD. Zumsteg 2006 EEG in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Clin.Neurophysiol 117 5 935 51

[15] Y. HanY. MaL. ZhuY. ZhangL. LiW. ZhengJ. GuoYongqiang 2018 Study on Mind Controlled Robotic Arms by Collecting and Analyzing Brain Alpha Waves Advances in Intelligent Systems Research 143

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