The first fully working prototype ‘Emotion Light’ is exhibited at this year’s ISEA in Belfast. The Emotion Light is a sculptural light that uses biofeedback technology to visualize the holder’s physiological state. To achieve this, changes in physiological data like GSR (galvanic skin response), heart rate and movement are tracked and translated via code into changes in light patterns. This artwork avoids the explicitly medical or therapeutic uses of biofeedback technology to explore the less literal complex relationships between sound, colour and bodily response. The emotion light is wireless and non-invasive. The visitor is asked to listen to an emotive sound sequence whilst holding a quirky light sculpture which responds live to changes in the viewers biosignals. The work aims to make people consider how much the body and emotions/feelings are interlinked. The uterus-like shape is simultaneously reminiscent of a ram’s head and spermatoids. This ambiguous sculpture renders the internal body visible on the outside and allows for an introspective and embodied experience. This piece also relates to the artists earlier works, such as Receptive Mo(nu)ment: a site- specific installation in Gloucester Cathedral where she recreated a womb environment by enlarging the pinopods found in scanning electron micrographs of the uterine lining. Pinopods are small protrusions thought to be indicative of whether an embryo can implant in the womb but much remains unknown about them. By enlarging the microscopic to the macroscopic a new relationship to the body is created. Van ‘t Klooster also tends to choose those areas of science where there are more questions than answers and the area of emotion research is one of those areas.
Talk at ISEA: From physiological input to the Emotion Lights, by Adinda van 't Klooster, 28th of August, 2 pm, Waterfront Hall, Belfast
Adinda van ’t Klooster is an international artist who works with sound, light, installation, animation, sculpture, electronics and computer generated performance. She creates multi-sensory experiences in often site-specific and collaborative contexts. She is currently in the process of completing an AHRC-funded practice-based PhD at CRUMB, University of Sunderland. Her work explores the areas where art and science overlap. She is interested in how developments in science and technology provide new ways of looking at the body, the mind and the start of life itself.
The Emotion Lights project was supported by the Arts Council England, the AHRC, STEIM, AMAP, Primate Productions, the University of Sunderland and the National Glass Centre in Sunderlandhttp://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=8405www.crumbweb.org
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