This is your brain on Pink Floyd
The human brain has long been a subject of fascination for art and science, which are now both mixed into âBrainstorms: A Great Gig in the Sky,â a new live interactive experience to the tune of Pink Floyd.
Interactivity is optional, but memorable. Exhibition visitors can opt in (and pay extra) to have their brain activity recorded while listening to Pink Floydâs classic album âThe Dark Side of the Moonâ â and later on, displayed as a mesmerizing cloud synced to that same soundtrack in a very large room of Londonâs immersive art gallery Frameless.
Immersive art venues have been popping up across the world, often featuring popular painters whose works blend walls, ceilings and floors around the visitors. But combining the concept with music and a live element brings âBrainstormsâ closer to âABBA Voyage,â for instance.Â
Thatâs not their only thing in common: Both shows similarly use technology as an enabler, not a focus.Â
This makes âBrainstormsâ different from last yearâs groundbreaking experiment in which neuroscientists were able to re-create Pink Floydâs âAnother Brick in the Wall, Part 1â using AI to decipher the brainâs electrical activity. This time, it is a spectacle.
While advanced technology is involved behind the scenes, from Emotiv EEG headsets and spatial audio to Unreal-powered visualizations, the starting point of the Brainstorms project was very much music â more precisely, that of late Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright.Â
Wrightâs daughter, Gala, wanted to do something special for the 50th anniversary of the album featuring âThe Great Gig in the Sky,â the iconic tune composed by her father, with no less memorable vocal composition by Clare Torry. âSo we started to put together ideas,â composer and music technologist JJ Wiesler told TechCrunch during the premiere.
Wiesler is the co-founder of Pollen Music Group, a San Francisco-based creative outlet renowned for its music scores and sound design. With both a music studio and a lab where it works with VR/XR headsets, phones, home devices and more, Pollen isnât new to experimenting. But âthis is a bit of a change to take it into the exhibition world,â he said.
It was Gala Wright who had the idea to focus on neuroscience and the study of the human brainâs reaction to music. This led her and Pollen to partner with Dolby to record the brain activity of 125 volunteers listening to âThe Great Gig in the Sky,â synced with ad hoc software, Wiesler said.Â
Conducted last year, the experiment forms the basis of âAurora,â a creation in which the moon casts a glow over the arctic tundra, progressing into an aurora borealis.Â
âAuroraâ takes up the entirety of Framelessâs largest gallery, but there are four in total, which wasnât part of the original plan. With 30,000 square feet at its disposal, the Brainstorms team came up with more than fillers. Keeping âgreat gigs in the skyâ as its overarching theme, it took on a room of its own with âEclipseâ and enlisted London-based music artist Imogen Heap for a bird-inspired room.
Get off my cloud
A musician known for engaging with technology, Heap is doubly featured in âMurmur,â which is set to her ambient track Cumulus, while two starling flocks â murmurations â represent her brain activity and her daughter dancing in the sunset.Â
Perhaps more clearly than in any other room, this visualization gives us a glimpse of how the same music can affect different people. Thatâs the science part of Brainstorms: During the visit, participants will learn that visualizations reflect what others felt while listening to Pink Floyd.Â
In âAurora,â engagement triggers red aurora hues, relaxation adds âa calming blue,â and excitement enlivens the movement of the aurora, exhibition panels explain. Meanwhile, in âEclipse,â raw electrical power from the brain fuels solar activity, driving flares and ejections, while regional activity of the brain is aligned spatially with the sunâs surface activity.
For visitors who opt into EEG readings, it goes more personal: A couple of days after their visit, theyâll receive a summary of their brain activity. It comes with science-based explanations on gamma, beta, alpha and theta brain waves and what it says about oneâs state of mind, but itâs arguably the personalized visualization that they will remember the most.
âWe created a visualization engine that was about how clouds form, because Richard Wright was an amateur photographer who took thousands of pictures of clouds,â Wiesler said. Cross that with data and neuroscience, and you get the Cloud Gallery.
âEnjoy your cloud,â the PR person tells me before I wander into the vast room to watch my brain on-screen, moments after Imogen Heap did just the same. Because of steps taken to preserve anonymity, only you will know which cloud is yours, but the look in your eyes might be a tell.
From ASMR to brain-themed museum exhibitions, thereâs rising interest in what music does to our brains, but thereâs something about Pink Floydâs music that makes it a perfect fit for such a display. âDue to popular demand,â âBrainstormsâ already added new dates to its London residency, its organizers said, and I wonât be surprised if it eventually makes its way to other cities and immersive venues around the world.