˗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...

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...

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....

One question that stumbled to me while I was researching for my paper about music and emotion is: How do the deaf listen to music? And upon searching on Google, I found out that the deaf 'listens' to music by feeling the vibration a sound produces. First, let's start off with the misconception that being deaf means you cannot hear anything at all – there are varying levels of deafness. Secondly, deaf people can feel the vibrations produced by the music being played and consume those vibrations through their body. The humming sound produced by picking a bass string or the boom of the drums can be felt very easily by them. The lyrics evoke different types of feelings, and the combination of vibrations and lyrics is how deaf people enjoy music. Someone who wears hearing aids or Cochrane implants may have some enhanced levels of hearings, but for those who don’t, they turn up the volume so they can feel the vibrations from beats and bass more strongly as they read the lyr...

Earlier this week, I bought my first Arduino Kit . Since this is week 6 of term, our lecturer has asked us to display an experiment by week 7. It could be any type of experiment, and it doesn't even have to be related to our project. The reason why I picked to try on Arduino is that I think it's the closest medium I'll be using for my actual work. But I was kind of worried about this, mainly it is because I've never used or tried it before. I've only heard about it but never actually played around with it. So this is the kit I bought. It costs SGD 70 at one of the shops in Sim Lim Tower. It contains a lot of items to try out experiments. It also includes several tutorial cards that can be successfully running with the items provided in the kit. For more detailed tutorials and the codes of each project, we are asked to go to their website and search for the complete step by step tutorials. Thus far, I have tried several projects, and for ...

Thus far, we've have concluded that music affects people's emotions. How different types/genres of music can change one's current feelings just by listening to them. We also have learned a little about how our brain process music, and how fascinating it is that listening to music is not processed like other auditory stimuli. Even the Oxford dictionary defines music as 'vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.'. In the definition, the term music itself is said to represent vocal, instrumental sounds or even both combined. Music that has lyrics is more understandable to influence someone's emotions because the words chosen by the lyricist backed up by the rhythm and melody made by the producer can easily affect people who are listening to it. But what if the songs are non-lyrical? What if you have to depend on your own interpretation on how you perceive the music and its infl...

When I first stumble upon Muse™ , I was looking for an EEG headpiece that I could purchase for my Research and Development subject. One part of my research is to understand the brain activity of a person when listening to a certain type of music. By looking at the Alpha waves of the brain activity scan, it can show how one perceives the music they are listening to. Muse™ is an EEG device widely used by neuroscience researchers around the world. It uses advanced signal processing to interpret your mental activity to help guide you. When your mind is calm and settled, you hear peaceful weather. Busy mind? As your focus drifts, you’ll hear stormy weather that cues you to bring your attention back to your breath. Muse™ connects to your phone via Bluetooth, and once you're connected, users can immediately open the Muse™ Meditation app, put their headphones on and close their eyes. Once the session is completed, users can review their results and track the progress. ...

Let's go back to the beginning of this Research and Development blog. When I first was researching around on what I want to do for this subject, I came across an article post by Elite Daily . It talks about how this generation has so much trouble being vulnerable, and I thought to myself, that's me! Based on my own experience and what I understand from the people around me, we are always scared when we have to share how we are feeling. We would rather be in an uncomfortable situation as long as we are not hurting other people's feelings. We would rather do anything else (except dying probably) as long as we don't show our emotions to other people. Maybe the reason could be to not show weaknesses towards other people or avoid hurting other people's feelings or even making sure you look and stay as cool as everyone said you are. It could be a lot of things, but definitely, no talking about your emotions. Candice Jalili (2015) did research on this, and sin...

In today's post about music therapy, I actually got the chance to interview (via email) a friend of mine; Novelyne Faustine B.A., who is a music therapist and piano instructor from Indonesia. I reached out to her to ask about what she took for her degree and if she has anyone she knew that could help me with my research topic because I knew she was learning music. But when I found out she was actually taking Music Therapy, I was beyond lucky and I had to do this interview with her instead. She was really kind to agree to help me and patient enough to answer my list of questions. So I prepared several questions to ask her more about her knowledge on the topic.  I asked her why she picked Music Therapy as her preferred studies.  She said, "As cliché as this may sound, growing up, I have always enjoyed playing and listening to music. It was a very natural process for me to choose music as my professional field but music therapy ... was something I discovered just a year be...

So I set a view questions for my interview for my Research and Development subject about Music and Emotions . These questions are for someone who has knowledge about Music Therapy since I talked about music therapy as one of my updates to my lecturers. So my target interviewee would be a music therapist. 1. Why did you take music therapy as your preferred study? This question is to open up the topic of music therapy for the interviewee and to understand more about the subject's personal reasons to his/her interest in the subject. 2. What is music therapy all about? This question is more direct, it asks the interviewee about her definition of Music Therapy and what can it do. 3. How can music therapy help people and their emotions? The objective of this question is to know and understand a little better about how music therapy works for clients/patients/people that are prescribed with it. 4. In what cases are music therapy usually used? The intention of this question is ...