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Here are synopses for two exhibitions I am developing, that experiment with the Emotiv EPOC‘s ability to recognize state transitions corresponding to occult activity.
Evocation
A human actor evokes (i.e. draws out) an entity and projects it into a defined space such as the Triangle of Art in Solomonic evocation (see below). The actor wears an EPOC headset that, having been previously trained, recognizes her intention to project the entity, and signals the activation of a robot occupying the same space. The overall effect is of having magically evoked the spirit into the robot body. (I am not presently concerned with the robot’s subsequent behavior, but will elsewhere address magical behavior in robots, perhaps as addendum to this project.)
(thanks to Osiris for the image)
Invocation
This project was inspired by a scene from Ghostbusters: Louis Tully (played by Rick Moranis) has been possessed by Vinz Clortho, arrested by the New York City police, and delivered into the hands of Egon Spengler (played by Harold Ramis) who connects Louis-Vinz to an EEG-looking device capable of showing the demon within him on a sort of spectral (pun intended) analysis monitor. The project plays with the idea that who we are on the “inside” — our so-called spirit or soul — may appear differently to an observer than our “outside”/physical appearance to the same or other observers.
A human actor wearing an EPOC headset is observed by a video camera that transmits a moving image of her profile to a viewing screen. She invokes (i.e. draws in) an entity, and her invocation is detected by the EPOC which alters the signal between the video camera and monitor, in a manner corresponding to the nature of the entity invoked. Alternatively, a still image of the actor’s face is projected and then switched to or morphed into the face of the entity during the invocation.