Knitted EEG Data was created in collaboration with artists Victoria Manganiello and Linh My Truong for the Having Future Friends/Tribe Against Machine e-textiles residency swatch book and gallery presentation in 2020.
It was composed of conductive copper foil applied to a transparent non-conductive backing, The character set was generated by observing a live kombucha culture and then interpreting the shapes via the human body. The resultant derivative forms were composed into a speculative "language" for kombucha, which are represented on the circuit panel.
The artwork was composed of knit panels
Conceptual Axis
Our objectives with this piece were to start a dialogue around the anthropocentric nature of human existence and consumption via kombucha cultures. Why do we privilege organisms from the Phylum Chordata? Are single celled organisms any less deserving of respect? We sought to create a fictional language for kombucha as though it were able to communicate by forming shapes on the surface of a culture, and presented the resultant work for the residency participants to create further circuits, in effect creating "words" via electrical connection.
References
https://tribe-against-machine.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Encoded_Messages:_Knitted_EEG_Data
Technology
OpenBCI UltraCortex EEG Headset
OpenBCI GUI
AYAB-Enabled CNC Brother Knitting Machine
Knitting and photo by Linh My Truong.
Repeated blinking as seen by an EEG headest.
EEG data converted to grayscale for AYAB.
Selected excerpts downsampled to AYAB's image format by Victoria Manganiello
EEG Data loaded into AYAB and ready to be knit. Photo and knitting by Linh My Truong.
Knitting progress. Photo by Linh My Truong.