Enheduanna–A Manifesto of Falling: first demonstration of a live brain-computer cinema performance with multi-brain BCI interaction for one performer and two audience members

Abstract

The new commercial-grade Electroencephalography (EEG)-based BrainComputer Interfaces (BCIs) have led to a phenomenal development of applications across health, entertainment and the arts, while an increasing interest in multi-brain interaction has emerged. In the arts, there is already a number of works that involve the interaction of more than one participants with the use of EEG-based BCIs. However, the field of live brain-computer cinema and mixed-media performances is rather new, compared to installations and music performances that involve multi-brain BCIs. In this context, we present the particular challenges involved. We discuss Enheduanna -A Manifesto of Falling, the first demonstration of a live braincomputer cinema performance that enables the real-time brain-activity interaction of one performer and two audience members; and we take a cognitive perspective on the implementation of a new passive multi-brain EEG-based BCI system to realise our creative concept. This article also presents the preliminary results and future work.

“Enheduanna—A Manifesto of Falling” Live Brain-Computer Cinema Performance: Performer and Audience Participation, Cognition and Emotional Engagement Using Multi-Brain BCI Interaction

“…When this was completed, the space opened to the general public, they were asked to watch the performance like any other spectator and complete in the end a final brief questionnaire. A similar process was also followed for the actress (Zioga et al, 2016 ).…”

“…The study was approved by the Glasgow School of Art Research Ethics Committee and all participants gave written informed consent. The inclusion criteria were female and male general adult population, aged 18–65 years old, not suffering from a neurological deficit, nor receiving psychiatric or other neurological medication (Zioga et al, 2016 ). Alongside their demographic data, the participants were asked to complete the “Edinburgh Handedness Inventory” (Oldfield, 1971 ), in order to determine whether they are right- or left-handed, as this can indicate differences in the underlying mechanisms of the neural processes.…”

“…The vast majority of these works use the brain-activity of a single participant. However, earlier, as well as recent examples, involve the simultaneous interaction of more than one participants or performers with the use of EEG-based multi-brain BCIs (Nijholt, 2015 ; Zioga et al, 2016 ). This trend coincides with the increasing interest in the fields of neuroscience and experimental psychology “in studying the mechanisms, dynamics, and processes of the interaction between multiple subjects and their brain-activity” (Zioga et al, 2015 ) and even more in a real-life context, away from the lab.…”

“…In this frame, we discuss and evaluate Enheduanna—A Manifesto of Falling , a live brain-computer cinema performance—that is an interactive performative work that combines live, mediatised representations, more specifically live cinema, and the use of BCIs (Zioga et al, 2015 , 2016 ). The performance was realised as a complete combination of scientific and creative practice-based methodologies and solutions, addressing the challenges of the design and implementation of multi-brain BCIs in mixed-media performances with audience participation.…”

“…The project involves a large multidisciplinary team of professionals, performers and public audiences. The premiere took place at the Theatre space of CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow, UK, in July 2015 (Zioga et al, 2016 ). The performance was also realised as a neuroscientific study in a real-life setting.…”