data plotting for a running average of alpha waves

In the event windows on the left you see 3 windows with graphs colored (mainly) in red. The top window doesn’t show much information here; peaks will appear if there is synchronization in maximum values for alpha waves between both hemispheres. The middle window shows peaks of alpha waves over time. Color switches between red and black for each new visitor. The bottom graph reports the absence of alpha waves, which functions as an indicator of beta waves. The first version of the IMEC software did not deliver beta waves, but indicated if there was an absolute absence of alpha. This allowed me to infer moments of concentration (and the appearance of beta waves).

On the ‘frequency’ matrix display in the main window you see which steel segments are activated. This matrix represents the whole Staalhemel installation with a video window of 6 by 12 pixels (segments): the darker pixels indicate longer intervals between impacts for a particular plate. If they are white they are hammering at maximum speed (interval of 40 ms) and if they’re black they are off. The screenshot here shows a moment of concentration and the immediate response in activation of steel segments. You can see that just before this moment there was a sustained period of concentration, only interrupted by rather small amounts of alpha waves. This happened when I was working on the software while wearing the EEG headset and it tells how I was (minimally) distracted 4 times in that thinking process.

At STRP Festival in Eindhoven this version was installed for the last time.
The first day of the festival I did a testrun of the new software, Staalhemel version 2. In this update alpha and beta wave information for 8 channels is visualised. Due to certain limits and interferences this 8-channel version is not fully operational yet. This version maps the layout of your head to the installation matrix: front panel rows represent left and right frontal area of your brain, next rows show results from the side electrodes and top and back of the head are translated to the last rows of steel plates.

Staalhemel – extended video from Christoph De Boeck on Vimeo.

Audio recordings of Staalhemel as a percussive machine are now available on Soundcloud. Some tracks were part of the concert version of Staalhemel which took place on April 24th in Happy New Festival. Select a track and press play in the widget above.

Staalhemel – Steel Sky from Christoph De Boeck on Vimeo.

Still from the presentation at dorkbotBRU

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2442258

Info on dorkbot and other meetings at iMal:

http://www.imal.org/rendez-vous/

This white field marked the boundaries of the set-up and thus it created a stage. People took the opportunity to find positions to mark their act of thinking.

The installation received nearly 1100 visitors in 5 days. On October 7 Christoph De Boeck presented a lecture on the working process alongside the researchers from IMEC, Wolfgang Eberle and Lindsay Brown, and David Garcia with notes on collaborations between artists and scientists.

staalhemel @ STUK, frontal view

Previous installation project (2007) by Christoph De Boeck.
In the interactive installation timecodematter the visitor enters an arena that is bordered with vibrating sheets of massive steel. The steel objects are pulsating with low frequencies and they react to the approach of persons. The acoustic energy in this installation is both penetrating and intangible: the resonant properties of twelve different steel sheets respond to the low frequencies and produce a conjuring effect.

In this set-up De Boeck plays an electronic music concert with Yves De Mey as the duo Audiostore & Eavesdropper.