Lancel/Maat

E.E.G. KISS | 2014/2016

E.E.G. KISS is an installation and a digital synesthetic, communal kissing ritual.
The installation of the EEG KISS Artistic Social Lab consists of a two opposite chairs, ‘a love seat’, where kissers can take place. Wearing an E.E.G. head sensor, their brain activity during kissing is measured. Around them four screens mirror the actions of both kissers and witnesses: through realtime E.E.G. data, soundscape and a surveillance system. The question ‘How does your kiss feel in E.E.G. data?’ invites all participants to perceive and interpret the abstract, immersive E.E.G. data-visualisation and the sound as an aesthetic experience, based on mirror neurons, and to share an intimate and intuitive co-creation of a kiss.
The E.E.G. KISS soundscape is based on the kissers’ streaming E.E.G. data. The Brain Computer Interface and the neuro feedback system translate these data of ‘kissing brains’ into a music score and an algorithm to generate an E.E.G. KISS symphony. Each E.E.G. KISS soundscape is saved in a public database on the artists’ website to be downloaded and shared. The soundscape is developed with Tijs Ham at STEIM Amsterdam.
(Text: Karen Lancel/Hermen Maat)

In collaboration with and generous support:
DIGITAL SYNESTHESIA
Mondriaan Foundation (Vrije beurs praktijverdieping)
TASML Tsinghua University Art & Science Media Laboratory, Beijing
Baltan Laboratories Eindhoven
Waag Society for Old and New Media Amsterdam
Fourtress Eindhoven
Holst Centre Eindhoven (sponsor E.E.G. headsets IMEC)
University for Technology, Delft / Participatory System Initiative
University of Amsterdam (UvA), neuroculture & neuro-esthetics research group
Tsinghua University Beijing, Neuro-engineering lab
University Twente, Social and Affective Touch Research Group / Dutch Touch
TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research)

Primary sensory cross-modalities: TASTE, TOUCH, VISION, AUDIO