˗ˏˋ ChristineDinata ˎˊ˗

This blog post will summarize the proposal for my final project. Translating Memories. A brainwave art installation. This project is based on a lot of things, but mainly from making art that is personal, unique, one-of-a-kind to the person involved in making it, because the art is created by their own personal memory. It will also allow people to express their feelings with the correspondent memory without having to say it out loud. The projected image will consist of abstract visual created by the combination of lines, shapes, and colors that follows the Geneva Emotion wheel . The Geneva Emotion wheel has been commonly known by psychologists to determine what human emotions are represented by what color and plotted on a 2D valence-activation graph. This project doesn't really have any particular target audience. Anyone and everyone are welcomed. Art enthusiast or just the curious mind. The value that I believe when creating this project is it is still uncommon to us...

For those who are not familiar with all the applications that Muse provided and the third-party apps created to assist the Muse headband to its fullest use potential. There are actually 5 applications that are usually used by people to develop their work. These applications are different and serve various purposes according to the direction of the developers. The following excerpt is taken from the choosemuse forum (by Enigma644) Muse Lab is Interaxon’s (Muse's company name) Windows/Mac data visualization tool. It cannot connect to the Muse itself, rather, it listens for OSC data over the network. When initially opening the software, it’s blank and a bit confusing to add graphs. If you open this config file , it will set everything up for you and will start graphing as soon as it receives OSC data (over UDP port 5000). To send OSC data to Muse Lab, Interaxon provides two options: 1. MuseIO - This is a Windows/Mac program that connects to the older 2014 Muse and stream or r...

After three weeks of waiting, Mr. Maxime Michaud finally returns a lengthy reply. Maxime is very kind upon answering my questions. He even offered his Master's thesis to me - even though it is in French, it is a huge help to get it from him. Below are the questions and answers directly from our email interaction. 1. First of all, can you introduce yourself, where are you from, and what type of work do you do? Well, I guess my English bio sums it all. If you need more specific infos, let me know. Otherwise, I’m from Montreal (QC), Canada. I’m currently a freelancer, mostly doing audiovisual work, live visuals and sound. Here’s my bio bellow ( https://www.maximemichaud.com/bio-en ) : And a selective Resume ( https://www.maximemichaud.com/cv-en ) Transdisciplinary artist. ~ Audiovisual /composition /music /performance /video /biofeedback /installation /digital et al. Born in the early 90s. Aquarius, Libra ascendant. Described as kind and creative. Was part of the de...

So, recently I've tried to connect my Muse 2016 headband to MuseLab / MuseIO. The reason why I did it is to try out the Ristiaallokko experiment. So far, I haven't successfully built it. There are many factors to it. Being unfamiliar with C+ codes is one of them. I really don't know where to start and what to do to fix it. The second thing would be no familiar with Xcode. I don't know where are the options to fix the things they app warned. There is a lot of Googling needed to be done to even understand the errors the app mentioned.  One of the first things you would notice when using a newer version of Xcode or building a new system with an older version legacy map is that the Always Search User Paths (ALWAYS_SEARCH_USER_PATHS) setting is set to YES, but is not supported by the new build system. Make sure to change the ALWAYS_SEARCH_USER_PATHS to NO and migrate to using modern header include syntax (for more info click  here ). Changing it to NO helps ...

Earlier this week I mentioned an interactive art I found that uses the Muse headband as their EEG reader. It is called Ristiaallokko. The creator (or someone related in working on the project) shared the codes to Github . They also clearly state that they are using a 2014 Muse headband. They said that they: build it on top of MuseIO to access data and Muse command-line tools to send data via OSC to OpenFrameWorks and they are building the project on Mac. However, if you check the official  MuseIO website , you will notice that Muse said that they are currently not supporting the MuseSDK. Basically, we cannot download the MuseIO or access the Muse command-line officially from Muse. (Which is the most important application to get this project running) Then I scoured the internet and found someone posted the MuseLab content to be downloadable ( here ). Note that the version provided is only compatible with macOS Mojave (version 10.14.5) and under, cause I tried downloading ...

Upon researching further on how to use Muse headband's brainwave in real-time, I stumbled upon two mobile applications that can support this. One is called Muse Direct, created by the company Muse themselves, the other one is called Muse Monitor, which is a third-party app created by fellow Muse enthusiast, James Clutterbuck. He created this app to help users to record their brainwave activity in real-time and saving those files in .csv (excel form). These .csv files will then be uploaded to the Muse Monitor website  and they can produce colorful graphs that will allow users to read them. These graphs consist of 5 important waves such as Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. As you can see here, the app is reading the user's brain activity in real-time. It will change according to how the person is thinking, feeling, doing. There are a lot of factors contributing to the reading as well, such as how the headband is worn on the head, any rough or forced blinking of th...

An Old New World is an interactive exhibition curated at the National Museum of Singapore, which is under the institution of the National Heritage Board. This exhibition allows curious visitors to learn and explore the '200 years leading up to the establishment of an entrepôt in Singapore in 1819'. The exhibitions start with an area dedicated to the maps used and discovered of the 17th to 19th century that show how the East Indies were navigated, surveyed and documented. There is also an interactive globe, which when you turn the globe to face a certain side, the projector on the wall will change accordingly, allowing you to learn about what topic you picked. We then set foot to an area where we can learn more about the ships and sails used during back in the days. There is also an interactive ship to let people find out how sailors navigate the seas in the past, the items people brought for their long journeys, and the challenges faced at sea. ...

Searching for more pieces of information and references for my Research and Development subject is hard because making brainwave art into reality needs a lot of expertise in brainwave reading and EEG use knowledge, and to have an at least basic information of how to code the create the right algorithms, etc. What makes it another struggle is that I honestly don't really know where and what to search for. So far, I'm still waiting for the email reply from Mr. Michaud about the inquiries I asked last week. I've also been searching for project examples people uploaded online that are similar to what I am doing. I've found this project  uploaded by laurames on Github. The project is called Ristiaallokko | Cross Waves Cross Waves is a sea state that occurs when two or more nonparallel wave systems meet. The waves generated by this phenomenon are dangerous to swimmers, boats, and ships caught between the crossing waves. Cross Waves is also the name of the Sprin...

Last September, I reached out to one of the artists mentioned by Dr. Sara Diamond, during her visit to Singapore for the ArtxTech Canada @SG event.  His name is Maxime Michaud and he is from Canada. When I found his website online, I decided to contact him if there would be any chance that I could ask him a view questions about his work. A few days had passed before I finally got his reply. Surprisingly he was eager to help me out. Even offered to come to Singapore if there is the opportunity. We then emailed back and forth for a bit to discuss the best option for him to share his work. However, I pitched the idea to my lecturer and I still haven't got any response. Nevertheless, I still asked him a view questions to help me clarify my curiosity. Attached below is the email I sent to Maxime, including the questions I'm curious about. Within days, he replied to me that he will try to answer my questions within the next two weeks. He also offered to shar...

I ordered the Muse2 headband a week ago from Ireland and it has arrived in Singapore. So this is how it looks like. Since Muse is marketed as a tool to help people focus on meditating, I tried Muse for meditating as well. I don't really have any experience of meditating before this because my definition of meditating is sitting cross-legged, closing your eyes, straightened your back and breathe calmly. I didn't know there are more scientific or psychological things that needed to be added to it. With this headband, the first thing it will do when you turn it on and use it is to calibrate your brain activities in its default state. You are told to sit in a comfortable position and think of anything or nothing. Just try to make your mind as its default state as possible. Once the app calibrated your brain, it will allow you to start meditating. There are several themes you can choose from the app to accompany you meditate, but let's pick one...

Upon researching more on examples of brainwave arts, I came across a Mashable article by Gianluca Mezzofiore (June 24, 2017) Random Quark is a London based company, who believes in bridging technology and art and making people happy by experiencing them with immersive interactive arts. Random Quark enjoys transporting people to a place of fun and colour; somewhere they can forget about their troubles for a while. One of the amazing works Random Quark did is called The Art of Feeling . Random Quark was approached by Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness Agency to create a machine that produces digital paintings by translating human brainwaves. Random Quark wanted to make the digital paintings come alive and astound as many as possible. That’s when we turned to the science of flocking birds to create a unique and complex painting. The machine measures the asymmetry between left/right hemispheres as well as the overall activation of the brain (alpha/beta/gamma waves) and p...

Currently, I'm pausing on adding more research related to my Music & Emotions project as I am writing the report. However, that doesn't mean I stopped reading. Reading articles by other bloggers became a guilty pleasure of mine since I was in charge of copywriting @step.dmd 's posts. Looking for interesting articles or coming up with the character's backstories. Then it got me thinking. What's actually the difference between copywriting and storytelling? Storytelling needs to capture its readers. The story needs to speak to them – their desires, their hopes, their dreams. With that, it would allow the writers to turn those readers into customers far better than any sales pitch could do. And that is the essence of copywriting. (Eli Landes's blog post ) According to Eli, creative writing's main objective is to make sure the readers are swept away with the stories they are reading. To keep their attention captive until the story ends. To entertain...

Interactivity tends to lead to better engagement, and it’s thought that better user engagement equals more conversions and more long term satisfaction with a brand. Of course, it's not always 100% effective. Just because it looks cool or eye-catching, doesn't mean it works. There are some pros, cons, and uncertainties to this strategy, just as there are any others. People like to be engaged in the things they are doing. Remember when you were young and your favorite subjects are the ones that include playing games? Well, research shows that interactive education is not only more fun but also more effective. Generally, interactivity makes us feel involved in the process, not simply a passive observer. Interactivity works online, for your business, too. Done right, it increases user engagement, and user engagement tends to correlate higher conversions (though not always – sometimes it distracts from the desired action). Interactive elements draw a user in and allow th...

On today's post, I would like to introduce you to our Raffles Jakarta's graduation project called Step . Step is an interactive exhibition created by the digital media design students that include interactivity and story gameplay by pressing floor tiles. When people come to our booth, expect to be challenged on their problem-solving skills. The story of the gameplay is about a planned out murderer, and it's up to the players to determine who the killer is after reading all the conversations of the characters. To guess, the players are expected to interact with Step 's Instagram as well. The right guesser might win prices provided by us. The graduation exhibition will be held in Gandaria City Mall, Jakarta. From 25th - 29th of September 2019. If you are interested, stay tuned for more updates on our  Instagram . You can see more about how the project was planned from the beginning or how we sketch the booth in our highlights. 

Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott, known by his stage name Joey Badass (stylized as Joey Bada$$), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. I first stumbled upon Joey, not from his music. Honestly, I don't even listen to his music. But what I want to share today is an impressive website of his. I found him on awwwards.com , and I immediately was fascinated by his website's look. This website tells you who Joey is as a person and as a rapper. From his early life to his present life, his career and who he is as a person. The website design is really cool, and the aesthetic is very excellent as well. As users, we're asked to just scroll through the whole website and read his back story. Here are some pictures of the website. To enjoy the site yourself, click here .

Earlier this week, we are asked to present one of our experiment we did over the weekends. It can be unrelated to our topic as well. And as I mentioned previously, I did try out several Arduino projects with my kit. But today, I'm going to show the one I showcased in class. This is an Arduino bot to light up like traffic light. The 3 lights (stop, ready, go) on the left indicate the car traffic light, while the 2 lights (stop and go) on the right represent the cross-road. There is also a blinking light to note that the time for crossing is almost out. Below I attached how it works.

One of the terms I learned during the Art x Tech Canada @ SG seminar was Brainwave Arts . It is a type of art that uses human's brainwave as a key player on an art installation. And I think it fits the description of the project/topic I'm choosing. When you google brainwave art, there are several well-known projects made by artists. However, brainwave arts are still not as common as other types of arts. This is because: to do brainwave arts, the artists need to have an interest or knowledge or the urge to learn some part of science as well. Mostly, brainwave arts lean towards types of arts that plays with human's emotions or thinking, since the brain is where we control everything. Brainwave arts are considered more fluid and indefinite as well since everyone's mind will think differently, even when presented the same object. One of the coolest brainwave arts I came across is: Making a song with repurposed brainwaves , by the creator of the show Sense8 on Netflix....

On the 22nd of September, 2019, Art x Tech Canada  did a seminar in Singapore's The Arts House. The seminar was free, and our class went there to listen to experts from Canada talk about the art world meets digital technology.  The event took quite some time. It started at 2pm, followed by opening remarks and a keynote address about the whole event by Dr. Sara Diamond, president and vice-chancellor of Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD University). Then before the actual seminar starts, we all had a coffee break together. The first part of the seminar took about an hour, followed by a rapid question and answer for the rest 20 minutes. It was about 'Creating a Digital Arts Ecosystem', and the speakers (Roch Michel – Media Creative Director of GSM Project, Henry Faber – President of the Toronto Media Arts Centre Boards, Kezia Toh – Senior Manager of DigiMuse from National Heritage Board Singapore, and Eric Lefebvre – Director of Devel...