Neuro-wearables and BCIs (Brain-Computer-Interfaces) are already here, and soon they will be everywhere. As innovation is moving faster than the social and ethical frameworks around it, researchers at Columbia University have developed 5 “NeuroRights”: Mental Privacy, Personal Identity, Free Will, Equal Access to Mental Augmentation and Protection Against Algorithmic Biases. Inspired by these NeuroRights, Roel Heremans and his team are designing a series of five interactive installations to make each NeuroRight tangible for participants. They want participants to explore unasked questions about the future of our NeuroRights in a world where BCIs are ubiquitous. Wearing a real-time BCI headphone in front of a custom-made Arcade Machine, participants will be guided through an aesthetic experience where their mental state is transparent and malleable. With this, the team hopes to evoke a visceral reaction, so that participants feel the need for NeuroRights on a personal level.
Read in the Ars Electronica blog: Roel Heremans: The NeuroRight Arcades
Credits
Concept & Artistic Direction: Roel Heremans
Artist Roel Heremans (BE)
Interactive Design: Tyrell
Logo design: Johannes Pöll (AT)
BCI software: Yuhan Zhang, Thai Duong Truong and Maarten Francq
Narrative voice: Richard Wells
Neurologial advice: Chie Nakatani and Cees van Leeuwen
Artistic Advice: De Kunstenwerkplaats Brussels, Werktank Leuven, Angela de Weijer, Emanuele Dainotti, Evan Cole
Arcade Design: C-Takt, Rudi van de Kerkhof
This project is funded by the Flemish Ministry of Culture, Youth and Media.
