Whatif your thoughts had the power to change a work of art? At Axle Contemporary’supcoming exhibition, Brain Waves, they do. It’s an interactive visualexperience that shifts based on the movement of currents emanating from our ownminds. Embudo artist Shel Neymark teamed up with students from Española’sNorthern New Mexico College and Steve Cox, assistant professor of engineering, tomake this project come to life.
SFRpicked Neymark’s brain (heh, get it?) to learn more about this creativeexperiment:
SFR: What inspired Brain Waves?
Shel Neymark: I actually had a dream four or five years agoabout a fountain with drops of water falling on a really shimmery surface. I’dnever done a piece that was affected by a dream before, but the image got methinking about the project. I’ve also read a lot about the brain over the last 15years and how you can exert physical control over something with your ownbrainwaves. It is just so interesting and so complex. The more we know, themore questions we have.
Why waves?
Ilove looking at water. I paddle across the river every time I leave my property,so I’m always staring at the waves. I also have a tank outside of my bathroomwhere water drips from the roof, and I stare at the concentric circles thiscreates. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things. Everything is waves:radio waves, sound waves, waves are all around us. I find that reallyinteresting and I don’t understand that much about them. But the waves of waterand the waves of brains began to collide.
How does Brain Waves work?
Thereis a visual of one drop of water that continually falls into a shimmerystill pool and creates concentric circles. A viewer puts on a headbandconnected to electrodes and their brainwaves cause more drops of water to comeinto the picture, which creates a more complex system of concentric waves.There is the potential to get four more drops going, but it’s not easy. It isessentially a biofeedback piece.
What sparked your interest in biofeedback?
Ifirst read about biofeedback in the early 1970s when I was in college, and itcaught my attention. There was something there that long ago that made me wantto use the concept and led me to think about interactive art in a differentway. It’s about the fact that artwork is not complete without participation.
You collaborated with professor Steve Cox and engineeringstudents. What was this experience like?
Iwent once a week to meet with the students. There were about six studentshelping with the project and it was cool because Steve knew their talents sowell. He assigned each of them to different aspects of the process so it couldcome together cohesively, and it was amazing to see them work. I look atelectronics and think, ‘I don’t get this at all.’ To me, these students weregeniuses, and I’m hoping to do more projects with them in the future.
So the collaboration is not only part of the final artwork, butwas necessary for this idea to come alive. It sounds like these interactionshave been the main motivation for Brain Waves.
Yes,definitely. The experience itself is not complete without collaborators, andthe whole project is not something that could have happened without assistanceduring creation. It was my vision, and yet I am so grateful for the people Iworked with because they had a lot of impact.
What do you hope people take away from this interactiveexperience?
Ihope Brain Waves leads people to think about their own brains and bodieson a deeper level, but I want it to be an aesthetic experience as well. Not allartists are concerned with making beautiful objects, but I am. I think that allart is a visual experience—the drops of water, the shimmery surface, the waythe image changes as you look at it—it’s beautiful.
Brain Waves: 6 pm-midnight FridayJune 9; 2 pm-midnight Saturday, June 10; noon-7 pm Sunday, June 11. Free. Currents New MediaFestival, Railyard Plaza, Market and Alcaldesa Streets, currentsnewmedia.org
