Abstract
In this chapter, we present a state of the art on Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) use in contemporary art. We analyzed sixty-one artworks that employ BCI dating from 1965 to 2018, and present a taxonomy with five categories guiding the discussion of specific BCI artworks: input, mapping, output, format, and the presence of an audience. Moreover, we briefly present and discuss key points about BCI devices used in some of the artworks that are available on the market. Finally, we present insights from nineteen artists that we surveyed about their BCI art practices, experiences with BCI devices and peculiarities of working with brain activity as a resource for art creation. We then conclude with our summary of challenges and potentials for BCI art in the future.
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Notes
- 1.
University of California, Los Angeles.
- 2.
An example of this definition is a participant with impaired motor neurons who utilizes BCI input to control their wheelchair.
- 3.
In this chapter we use word “participant” to differentiate between an audience at large and a person—a participant—whose EEG data is utilized in an artwork.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all the reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions that helped shape and improve this chapter through a “blind” peer-review process. A big thank you goes to all artists who responded to our survey and kept providing necessary information and images and without whom this chapter wouldn’t be as comprehensive. We also thank: Bernhard Riecke whose insights in the early days of this chapter helped in framing the scope; Omid Alemi and Kivanç Tatar for the suggestions about the structure and chapter organization; Mohammad El-Ghanem M.D. for suggestions and revisions of technical parts of this chapter; Ellen Pearlman for last-minute reading and suggestions. Finally, we thank Ash Tanasiychuk for tireless proofreading over the span of a couple of years while this chapter was transitioning from “in-progress” to“completed”.
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Prpa, M., Pasquier, P. (2019). Brain-Computer Interfaces in Contemporary Art: A State of the Art and Taxonomy. In: Nijholt, A. (eds) Brain Art. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14323-7_3
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