Six people. Six life stories. Six different approaches to creativity. Yet they all have one thing in common: When they get started, sparks of passion fly. Launched with the visualized life data of these and other creative minds, the new Life Ink exhibition at the Ars Electronica Center aims to explore the secrets of creativity and invites you to produce Life Ink yourself during dedicated hands-on demos.
Life Ink captures the life data of human bodies and brains by using sensory wearables that measure brain waves and body signals to create a new form of “ink”. In this way, the human body becomes a tool and means of expression that reflects us on a conscious and subconscious level, revealing aspects of ourselves that in turn inspire our creativity. Can the human body become the pen that generates ink? Can we create an inclusive, that can be used by all people, regardless of abilities or physical limitations?
Life Ink is a part of the Future Ink Project, a joint research project between Wacom and the Ars Electronica Futurelab to explore the future of creativity in all aspects of ink. After researching the soul in creative expressions in the first year of the collaboration with Space Ink, the second year of the project experimented with Bio Ink, living ink that grows freely. This year, with Life Ink, the team is investigating the inner mechanism of creativity in the human brain and body.
Want to see more? Join the Night Performances on Futurelab Day to follow pianist Maki Namekawa’s visualized real-time data live during her concert and one of the Life Ink demos that will be held on Sept. 7, Sept. 9, Sept. 10 and Sept. 11 at 4 p.m. each day in the basement of the Ars Electronica Center (wooden deck). But during the festival you can also experiment with Bio Ink and Space Ink!