Research on Biofeedback practices:

David Rosenboom defines Biofeedback in his book ‘Biofeedback and the arts: results of early experiments’ (1975) as the presentation to an organism through “sensory input channel  of information about the state and/or course of change of a biological process in that organism” to find some performance control over the process or for “internal exploration and self-awareness”

I had a look into Paul Granions work which is very interesting then an idea popped into my head. I got a VR headset (phone) for Christmas which costs $15 online, maybe I could turn it into a Paul Granion-esque device.

So I will need to have at least two sensors to collect data from the user then can convert it into something else using Arduino devices. I would like to create an experience inside the headset which closes the user off from the outside world and into the rhythm of there heart beat.

Today in class we looking into Biofeedback Art and after looking at some of the examples in the slides I think I will go down this path for my final data visualisation. I have been wanting to learn how to use Ardiuno for a while but have never tried. I’ve always loved making things but haven’t learnt how to automate or program before. It looks tricky but because the code for this kind of stuff all it take is tinkering.

I have also been inspired after going to a music festival where there were a number of people were wear clothes with LED’s integrated into them. There was someone with an amazing white furry coat which strips of LED’s lining the inside and shining though. Its something I would love to learn how to do. Im not sure how hard it is to do this stuff but its probably a learning curve.

In week 6’s class we were introduced to Processing. As I said in a previous post I have used this software before for an Art project in high school. I used it to data glitch photos. At the time I only had a basic understanding of how it worked but could make glitched images look really cool quite easily. I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time and learnt it all off youtube.

Now i’m back at it and its more frightening than ever. I was always one step behind in the demonstrations but I already had a small understanding of how it worked. With this kind of software I feel like its pretty easy to understand but it would take lots of tinkering especially with the code. I’d like to integrate the processing ‘process’ into my video work so this could be a vial option for my project. Im not sure where to start though especially how the data goes in? i’d probably make some kind of generative art, or maybe something with a live camera?

Im not sure yet but over the next week I should have a better understanding