Abstract (Long paper)

Keywords: surveillance, brain sensors, posthuman, memory, consciousness, brain opera, datatyping, BCI, EEG.

Do our EEG, fMRI and other biometric data contain the essence of who we are and what we think? In the future could this data be used as an identifier for security and thought modification, as well as exploring virtual worlds? If our “brainotypes” or ‘brainfinger prints’ and concurrent cognitive processes are monitored, how do we prepare for this looming horizon? Though no one is entirely sure, these questions invite both scientific and metaphorical approaches to address these issues. This paper looks at past artistic investigations using the human brain. It then discusses the emergence of technologies, research, and methods on brain datatyping; privacy and its ethical implications; sending and receiving motor commands between two different brains; moving robotic prosthesis through thought; the formation of memory; manipulating memory via frequencies of light; and hacking brain computer interfaces (BCIs) to extract vital information. Keeping these methods and techniques in mind, this paper then touches upon the author’s nascent creation of a ‘brain-opera’ using both open source and proprietary BCIs. This research, in an early phase of development, will be developed throughout the coming year.

• Ellen Pearlman is a PhD candidate at The School of Creative Media, Hong Kong City University, Hong Kong, and a Visiting Research Scholar at Parsons School of Design/New School University, USA. She is also Director and Curator of the Volumetric Society of New York, an Intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Media Lab (NY, USA) and President of Art-A-Hack™.

Full text (PDF) p. 663-668