HARMONIC DISSONANCE

by SUZANNE DIKKER & MATTHIAS OOSTRIK

The Mutual Wave Projects combine art, neuroscience, and education to capture and embody the elusive notion of 'being on the same wavelength' with another person through brainwave synchronization.

watch Out of the Lab, summarizing our projects with MAI

the mutual wave machine

in collaboration with peter burr and diederik schoorl

Enclosed by an intimate capsule and immersed in an audiovisual environment that responds and reflects their shared brain activity, two visitors can directly experience and manipulate their internal efforts to approach or distance themselves from each other. During the experience, greater brainwave synchronization is reflected in greater vividness and more coherent and recognizable audiovisual patterns, while lack of synchronization strays towards dark audio-visual chaos: a faint ringing in the ears and static in the retinas. More.

watch the video below

MWM @ EYE FILM INSTITUTE AMSTERDAM. IMAGE BY CEES VAN EDE, FOOTAGE BY SANDRA KAAS

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mutual brainwaves lab

with matthias oostrik

Mutual Brainwaves Lab is a simple, scaled-down neurofeedback interactive that tracks and visualizes brain-to-brain synchronization as two heads merging in and out of each other. Compared to the other projects, the emphasis is tilted toward the educational potential of visualizing brainwave synchrony in real-time: the playful environment is intended as a family-friendly neuroscience educational tool, with an emphasis on raising awareness about the scientific process, and the state of neuroscience research more broadly. More

press: Brain Games National Geographic Channel 2014 | Imagine Science Films 2014

By Suzanne Dikker & Matthias Oostrik (made possible by Emotiv, OpenFrameworks, and Jennifer Silbert) A simple neurofeedback interface: heads merge in and out of each other as a function of brainwave synchronization between two people, using the Emotiv EPOC EEG headsets. The score count goes up every time the heads overlap perfectly.

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neuroTango

presented by ArtLab and graciela flores

What happens in the brain of tango dancers as they glide and swirl? Tango is synchronization, two bodies connected through the embrace, moving as one. But are dancers’ brainwaves synchronized too? NeuroTango allows us to peer into tango dancers’ minds in a live experiment showing their brain activity in real time. Three couples will be fitted with wireless headsets that will sense their brainwaves and transmit them to a computer as they dance. Brainwave synchronization—or lack thereof—in each couple is translated into dynamic visualizations projected on the walls. More

press: Daily Dot | The Scientist Magazine

A live experiment in Cantina Royal - Williamsburg, Brooklyn - in which tango dancers were fitted with EEG devices in order to see how their brainwaves aligned.

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measuring the magic of mutual gaze

with marina abramovic, matthias oostrik, jason zevin & participants of the annual watermill art and science: insights into consciousness workshop

Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze restages Marina Abramovic' durational performance piece The Artist is Present (MoMA, 2010) as an interactive art installation/neuroscience experiment investigating the relationship between human connectedness and brainwave synchronization. During the experience, two participants sit opposite each other and engage in mutual gaze for 30 minutes while their EEG signal is recorded and visualized in real time. Whenever the participants' brainwaves oscillate in synchrony, this is shown through a lightning animation connecting the two model brains. More

venues: Sleuthing the Mind. Pratt Manhattan Gallery 2014. (documentation only) | SOFT CONTROL: Art, Science and the Technological Unconscious Kibla 2012 | Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present, the Garage Museum for Contemporary Culture Moscow 2011.
press: Omni Reboot | Art News | NPR Science Friday | The Brian Lehrer Show | RTV russia

Neuroscience Experiment I: Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze by Marina Abramovic / Suzanne Dikker / Matthias Oostrik * *In collaboration with participants of the Art & Science: Insights into Consciousness workshop, Watermill Center NY Shown at: Marina Abramovic, The Artist is Present, GCCC: http://abramovic.garageccc.com/en/works/10 and Soft Control: Art, Science and the Technologically Unconscious http://kiblix.org/kiblix2012/softcontrol/?p=4 This video shows a 3min recording and visualization of brain activity of two people engaged in eye-contact.

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compatibility racer

with lauren silbert, jennifer silbert, matthias oostrik, oliver hess and amanda parkes

Compatibility Racer is a competitive, interactive brain-robotics installation in which brainwave synchronization is translated into the speed of a cart: the more in sync participants' brains, the faster the cart moves along a track. More

venues: Kulturpark Berlin 2012 | Rhinebeck, NY with Marina Abramovic 2013
press: Omni Reboot | Art News | NPR Science Friday | The Brian Lehrer Show | RTV russia

By Lauren Silbert, Jennifer Silbert, Suzanne Dikker, Matthias Oostrik, Oliver Hess. Compatibility Racer uses software that compares brain activity between individuals using portable EEG headsets. Participants are outfitted with headsets, pair up, and sit facing each other on the "bull." The "bull" moves according to an online correlation analysis between the brain activities of each person.

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