Lucid Dreaming is a collaborative multimedia installation created during the Embodied Interaction course in spring 2019. The installation investigates the phenomena of awakening into the subconscious.
When visitors step into the space they encounter a bed and immersive projection. Interactive floor and wall projection, created by Julia Sand, reacts to visitors movements throughout the space. When visitors stand on the streaming particles, the particles move around the visitor and change color. Calming bell sounds softly ring when new motion is triggered. The projection moves around the bed, inviting those who are watching into a meditative contemplation.
One at a time, visitors are invited to lay down on the bed and put on a Muse headband. This device reads the brain waves of the participant and transmits this data over bluetooth and OSC to Processing. Processing compares the relative frequencies of Alpha and Beta brain waves and displays historic dream imagery in relation to the brain activity. These images are successively back-projected through a fabricated water vapor screen, which is parallel to, and directly above, the participant.
As a result of this experience, crafted by Jennifer Greb and Anna Puura, visitors witness a visualization of their brain waves in real time. Lying in the dark with a cool mist overhead, the user becomes calm and lulled into a relaxed state, reminiscent of dreaming. During this state, surreal images are suspended in an overhead mist, providing an ethereal texture which the visitor can touch and manipulate. The realization that the selection of images is dependent on the brain waves of the visitor promotes a feeling of clairvoyance and intimacy, facilitating a window into the subconscious.
Jennifer Greb New Media Design and Production
Anna Puura New Media Design and Production
Julia Sand New Media Design and Production
Special Thanks to Matti Niinimäki
