BCIs – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Ellen Pearlman

Ellen Pearlman discusses the history and contemporary usage of Brain Computer Interfaces. Exploring the neuroscientific research into the field, Pearlman dives into questions of consciousness and agency.

This presentation is part of the New York Electronic Art Festival presented by Harvestworks

http://www.harvestworks.org/july-13-bcis-brain-computer-interfaces-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-by-ellen-pearlman/

July 13 - 7:00PM

Location: Harvestworks

Artists and musicians have been experimenting with Brain Computer Interfaces or BCIs since the 1960s. Currently a number of consumer and open-source BCIs have hit the market and have been put to artistic use. At the same time the 10-year Obama Administration and European Union Brain Initiatives are underway. Half the research funds in the US is going to DARPA (the Department of Defense) and its new sub-agency IARPA (Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity). What are they finding out, and how will this affect BCI devices and artistic practices in the future?

We will look at past and present artistic use of BCI, as well as current research in neuroscience. How will this affect new types of BCI devices and shape artistic exploration of BCIs in the future? The implications are both thrilling, and deeply chilling.

BIO

Ellen Pearlman is Director and Curator of the Volumetric Society of New York, and President of Art-A-Hack(TM). She is a PhD Candidate at The School of Creative Media at Hong Kong City University, and a Visiting Scholar at Parsons/New School. Her thesis focuses on consciousness, surveillance and the posthuman.

More information here:

http://artahack.io/about/

School of Creative Media, Hong Kong City University
http://www.scm.cityu.edu.hk/people/doctoral-researchers/pearlman-ellen-l/