Thoughtography at NGV Friday Nights

Make art with your brain.
Tom Clift
Published on March 29, 2016

Overview

Have a good hard think at NGV Friday Nights, thanks to a pop-up thoughtography lab courtesy of the brainiacs at La Trobe University. Open to the public every Friday evening from now through to April 22, this sensory experiment is part of the ongoing Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei exhibition. Visitors simply slip on a headset and hey presto — their brainwaves are transformed into vibrant works of art.

Okay, so it's a little bit more complicated than that. Thoughtographs are created via electrical impulses in your brain, as measured by a dry electrode electroencephalogram (EEG) headset. As you browse a selection of images from the Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei exhibition, the apparatus reads your reaction and generates different coloured lines. The harder you think, the thicker the lines. The end result is a unique piece of art that you can take home as a permanent souvenir. Pretty rare that you get to walk out of a gallery with a piece of art under your arm — let alone one you technically created yourself.

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