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Can I kiss you online? You can if you wear an EEG headset that measures your brain activity. This way, the kiss can be translated into a visual soundscape and be downloaded.
With the Kissing Data Symphony, creators Karen Lancel and Hermen Maat have made a neurofeedback system for kissing. Kissing used to be a personal, intimate interaction between two persons, but the Kissing Data Symphony changes this. It collects all the kissing data, but immediately asks questions about who the owner of the digital kiss really is. In live experiments, visitors are invited to assume the roles of Kisser or Spectator and wear an EEG headset. The Kissers’ brainwaves are processed in real time into floor projections, and the collective brain activity creates a visual data environment, which is then translated into an algorithm for a soundscape. Each unique EEG soundscape is stored and can be downloaded by all participants. A selection of data visualisations can be printed as Portrait of a Kiss.

Kissing Data Symphony (2018) is part of a long-term project. The latest version utilises new multi-brain technology. Kissing Data Symphony premiered in 2018 at the Austrian Art Elextronica Linz festival and won the 2019 Global AI Art Competition. The project was also shown at the Dutch Design Week and the South Korean ISEA festival.

Title: Kissing Data Symphony
Year: 2018
Duration : 20 minutes
Category: Interactive project
Edition: NFF 2019

RomantiekKunst & CultuurMuziek

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