(UN) FOCUSSED

Can we detect our individual characteristics and visualize what makes us unique?

(un)focussed is a performance with and about the brain, in which the EEG data of two performers is compared and translated into laser movements and sound. The performance aims at exposing our internal differences as individuals and basic similarities as humans. Each one of us has different memories, experiences and perceptions, but when we analyze our brain’s responses to specific basic stimulation, we also observe how surprisingly similarly we are all wired.

 

EEG analysis and laser programming: Alberto Novello

Sound design: Ivo Bol

Scenography, interactive lighting design: Marion Tränkle

Choreography: Marion Tränkle, Roos van Berkel and Tashi Iwaoka

Performers: Roos van Berkel, Tashi Iwaoka

Video: Eric de Clercq

 

Year: 2016-ongoing

Supported by: The Performing Arts Fund NL, the Creative Industries Fund NL,the Amsterdam Brain and Mind project and the Amsterdam Neuroscience Alliance.

 

Presentations:

15.10.2015: Try-out at Amsterdam Dance Event, Compagnietheater Amsterdam
18.04.2016: Amsterdam Brain and Mind project, Compagnietheater Amsterdam
19.04.2016: Worlding the Brain Symposium, Compagnietheater Amsterdam
06.10.2016 Amsterdam Neuroscience Kickoff Meeting Theater Amsterdam
09.04.2017: The Warp, Art Chapel Amsterdam
23.09.2017: Festival Nuis des Lampions,  Wiltz, Luxemburg

 

(un)focussed can be described as a composition of different elements and systems that (inter)act:

1. Performative scores || active movement, ‘passive’ receptor, activation of attention states (e.g. meditation, concentration).

2. Lighting system || light sensor and feedback loops, flicker (10Hz trigger), audience lighting.

3. Laser system || EEG sensor, pattern recognition, spectrum analysis, data visualization.

4. Sound system || triggers, noise of the laser engine.

 

Some elements are linked through the signal chain triggered by the EEG data (e.g. laser – sound), others through direct senor input (e.g. laser – light).