Brainstorms: A Great Gig In The Sky brings together a team of neuroscientists, artists, musicians, coders and production professionals with the goal of creating an immersive audiovisual experience like no other.
Concept
About Brainstorms
Brainstorms is a joint venture between San Francisco-based creative studio Pollen Music Group and Richard Wright Music Limited. Their mission is to combine neuroscience and immersive technology to shine a light on how our minds respond to music through the power of immersive visual experiences.
Brainstorms: A Great Gig in the Sky is the opening show of the partnership, featuring the music of Pink Floyd and with additional music and collaboration by Imogen Heap, presented by Frameless London. It will run on select weekends throughout June 2024.
Driven by a mutual admiration for the beautiful and haunting simplicity of Richard Wright’s songwriting, the Brainstorms team decided to theme the entire show around a ‘Great Gig in the Sky’ - from auroras to starling murmurations to an eclipse, and present these phenomena as stunning visualisations of the human brain’s response to music.
Phase 1
Brain Data Collection
In October 2023, 125 people drawn from the general public were invited to attend a large-scale brain data collection event at Dolby Studios in Central London. Under controlled conditions, participants listened to ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’ in Dolby Atmos, while having their brain data recorded using a 14-channel EEG headset provided by neurotech company Emotiv.
Measurements from the device were output as ‘performance metrics’ of general cognitive brain states, specifically Excitement, Relaxation, Stress, Engagement and Interest. These were then analyzed to determine which metrics would be most appropriate for mapping to parameters of the visualization to be created.
Phase 2
Data-Driven Visual Narratives
Initially, the Brainstorms project was conceived to visualise the aggregate brain data from the collection that was performed at Dolby in October 2023 in a single experience, but as the concept developed, and in discussions with Frameless, the creators realized there was an opportunity to explore further dimensions of the experience and a broader theme. Curator Gala Wright suggested expanding out the theme of ‘Great Gigs In The Sky’ to incorporate two additional experiences in the galleries, as well as a live brain data capture event that would showcase the process of gathering and visualising brain data in response to music in a direct and intuitive way for guests.
The guiding principle behind each gallery’s visual experience was to leverage the dynamics of brain data to drive parameters of key elements of the visual environment, and to ‘tell a story’ with this data. The team used an array of tools to work with the material, in many cases stretching the capability limits of these technologies, and integrated them with expert support and guidance from the team at Frameless into the venue’s custom playback systems.
Each gallery offers a distinct interpretation of the interface between brain data and visual representation. The approaches range from sophisticated algorithmic depictions of cognitive states, to innovative transformations of EEG data that probe the notion of musical enjoyment, and even to the visceral display of raw brain signals that embody an 'engine of creation'. Despite their varied methodologies, all galleries share a unifying theme: the visualisations are all responses to the act of listening to music. Importantly, the music that immerses the listener in the space is the same music that elicited the brain responses being depicted.
Music & Sound
The show at Frameless London offers a captivating audio experience, utilising cutting-edge technologies like Flux Spat Revolution and Sound Particles. Visitors are immersed in a dynamic sound environment, where audio elements surround them, creating a multisensory journey. The combination of these advanced audio technologies ensures an unparalleled level of immersion, allowing visitors to engage with the artwork on a deeper level. Pollen Music Group, the developers of the Brainstorms content, have worked carefully with Frameless system engineers to ensure that in each gallery guests are transported into a realm where sound becomes an integral part of the art, creating an unforgettable sensory journey.
Collaboration With Imogen Heap
The Brainstorms team were extremely fortunate to have been able to collaborate on this project with widely acclaimed musician and technologist Imogen Heap.
Her instrumental work ‘Cumulus’ (2009) forms the stunning soundtrack to the experience in one of the galleries, and has been extended and remixed to fit the visual presentation and the spatial audio capabilities of the space.
Beyond this, during the development phase of the project, Imogen also agreed to participate in a brain data collection set up exclusively for her, while listening to that same piece of music that she composed.
Her daughter also took part, and the Brainstorms creative team wove this data into a moving ‘mother-daughter’ narrative that can be witnessed at the event.
