MEME
MEME is an interactive installation which reads peoples minds as they watch a performance – displaying the result as a rapidly changing mesmerizing shape.
When people who are hooked up to MEME react to a performance the shape will change, like a flexing muscle. It get’s really interesting when people begin to react to their reactions, and their neighbours reactions! It’s such a strange mix of bio-feedback, physiological responses, snake oil and theatre!
The project was a collaboration with Ben Storan, and designed with a £2 per person budget for a show at the Battersea Arts Center. Since creating the project we’ve exhibited at the London Design Museum, and at the Wired NEXTfest in Los Angeles.
The technology we used for this has been around for so long – it’s basically a Lie Detector. What’s interesting is when you attach some sort of abstract representation of the readings, and let the audience derive meaning from it.
We never stopped playing with the technology, and in fact we’ve been using it in several other projects, like the prototypes in the Nokia/Burton collaboration.
We’re making tiny wireless versions of this, and are going to post the instructions online so anyone can make one too!
We’ve actually got two other projects lined up using some of the technology, which are so drastically different! We’ll keep you posted.