Rubber-hand experiment and OBEs

Rubber/wooden hand experiment.

I have been interested in the phenomenon of the rubber hand experiment and recent studies relating to experimental induction of out of body experiences. This interest is partly for personal reasons relating to my experience of sleep paralysis and lucid dreams, but also because I have been doing some workshops on visual and perceptual illusions, and 3D stereoscopic image making. I thought t would be a good idea to start with the rubber hand experiment and also try the experiments in body swap by Henrik Ehrsson and Olaf Blanke. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/ucl-foe081407.php

I invited some experts to the studio who I thought might be interested in trying these experiments out and perhaps developing them. They brought presentations and some kit to do the rubber-hand experiment, most importantly a realistic rubber-hand. I borrowed some HMDs so along with a DV camera we had everything we needed to experimentally induct an out of body experience.

I was amazed at how well the rubber hand illusion worked. In this experiment the fingers of the rubber hand are stroked synchronously with the real hand [hidden from view]. You see the rubber hand in place of your own. As the illusion kicked in I began to feel strong connection with the fake rubber-hand. I felt the unnerving sensation that the rubber hand was infact, my own hand, and always had been. It felt that at any moment I could start to move the hand. It started to feel heavy, and this made my arm start to ache.

To be honest before i tried this I was slightly skeptical of this experiment, I was not convinced that the effect could be strong, total, or convincing’. For me there were several stages; a weirdness at the beginning, where I though nothing more was going to happen; this then increases as your real hand starts to feel very odd. Then there is a drifting and a odd numbness as you begin to connect with the rubber-hand, this connection then becomes strong, and even remains if visual contact is broken with the hand. I had an idea to try a wooden hand, and this worked surprisingly well. It made you feel as if your hand was shinny hard and smooth. This left me wanting to push this experiment further; What happened if you swapped the hand for a modified hand during the experiment, used less fingers or increasingly abstracted the hand progressively? Use a hand with just 3 fingers or a beast hand with hair and claws?

HMDs for the body swap experiment; even this early model seemed to prove quite effective for the experiment

Attempting the hand-shake illusion which work quite well even working cross gender!  This feels like you have swapped hands with the other person or that you have lost control of your own hand.  We also tried the set up as illustrated above. Like the rubber-hand it seemed there were progressive stages where so called ‘ownership’ shifts to the virtual body.  In our experiment we really only entered a mild sensation of ‘weirdness’ in a similar way to the rubber-hand experiment.  From here we could not quite get to a total shift of body location in a strong sence. Given my skepticism about the rubber-hand experiment, I am now convinced that the Body swap illusion could create a very strong sensation of being removed from ones own or OBE. Next time to do this experiment effectively, we need more space and time to set up and less visual distractions in the space.

See more information on this experiment here

Filed under: eiobe, rubber-hand , obe, out of body experience, perceptual illusions

Dodecahedral speaker – nearly finished

12 pentagonal faces, 12 speakers

These speakers are generally used scientific purposes and testing architectural acoustics. In this project I wanted to address a problem of working with sound in the studio, then actually going to a performance space to work with an entirely different sound system. By working with my own sound source the only variable is the spatial acoustics.

I have had the opportunity in the past to work with a 10.2 surround sound system; although the sound was fantastic, I found this problematic. People will talk endlessly about emulating ‘realistic’ sound, but generally there is only a small sonic sweet spot, [in the centre of the room] so you are not totally immersed in the sound unless you occupy that spot. Personally I find stereo is equally problematic. After getting quite excited about working with loads of channels I went back to working in mono so I could concentrate on the sound output and be more confident about knowing what it was sounding like on the outside. I also wanted to work with something that had its own inherent sound quality. With the dodecahedral speaker, the idea is that the sound you hear comes from one spot. The dodecahedron emulates a spherical sound source or point, which propagates sound around the space to fill it.

Filed under: acoustics, MAX MSP, performance

Biosonar project 2009

Biosonar project 2009, originally uploaded by Antony Hall.

Filed under: performance

Dodecahedral speaker in progress

IMG_6981, originally uploaded by Antony Hall.

Dodecahedral speaker in progress

Filed under: acoustics, geometry, MAX MSP, performance

Echolocation

This is my ultrasonic sensor, during the first days of the radar residency i have been doing some experiments with this to find out how it works – essentially i am hoping to use it as a way of creating a human echo-locating device. essentially it seems that this measures the distance between an ultra-sound pulse and its echo. we connected this up to a oscilloscope to see how obstacles looked in terms of the sound reflection…

Apparently, Shrews are the only terrestrial mammals known to echo-locate [and the Tenrecs of Madagascar]. The shrews emit series of ultrasonic squeaks.

“Human echolocation is the ability of humans to sense objects in their environment by hearing echoes from those objects. This ability is used by some blind people to navigate within their environment. They actively create sounds, such as by tapping their canes or by making clicking noises with their mouths. Human echolocation is similar in principle to active sonar and to the animal echolocation employed by some animals, including bats and dolphins….Some blind people have described the phenomenon not as a learned method of navigation, but as an inherent and intuitive extra sense. For example, a blind person could walk past a line of trees and feel a “pressure” at their side as they passed each tree. The cause of this would be the echo of the sound of their footsteps; however, they may not consciously be aware of this mechanism, only that the phenomenon exists and can often be relied upon to detect obstacles.”

Pauls experiment investigates how dolphins detect sound using the jaw bone – this box has metal rods inside in a line [aproximatly representing the allignment of teeth in a jawbone] – so as the sound wave travels through the channel, the rods act as a filtering device – or at least that is the hypothesis [very briefly]. Apparently dolphins use their jawbone as a way of honing in on the direction of certain sounds.

Filed under: acoustics , RADAR residency

Experiment with electric fish

Here are some of the latest images from the Enki project…

The main view of the experiment chamber. The Enki installation at Cornerhouse is now up and running. There are experiments by appointment every 15mins, and all the data is being collected.

It has taken me ages to make these comms units, they contain16 interconnecting cables within a noise reducing or shielded structure.

The Table has two monitors one from the fish room and one from the human room. You can speak to the person in the experiment via a mic.

Inside the sound proofed room for the human there is a chair and the sensor interface.

There is a window into the fish room on the side of the chamber

The room containing the fish is electrically shielded.

Filed under: electric fish, enki, MAX MSP, performance , acoustics, bioart, electric fish, electrogenic fish, electrosense, experiment

Neuro stimulation

For a while i have been looking at Michael Persinger God helmet experiment, I think the discussion around this experiment was really interesting, and for me has been an opportunity to investigate the realm of psychology further. I got in touch with him to ask some questions about the technology and the experimental process. I decided to make a modified version of the god helmet to work with my Enki interface. here is a view Inside the neuro-stimulation device there are 4 coils which oscillate with magnetic frequencies, i have been using MAX MSP to drive these using electrical pulses. The magnetic coils are fitted to an elastic band which fits over the head, to the back of the head is a junction box, and the two coil arrays sit at the side of the head near the temporal lobes.

Filed under: acoustics, enki, MAX MSP

Spectropia – toffee apples

This was amazing at the opening of Spectropia- the drinks were covered in foil [apparently to shield them from EM fields [many themes in the conference were to do with the potentially damaging effects of EM emissions] and these was a chef making toffee apples live! they looked so amazing who could resist. The funny thing was that as soon as you bite in to them you teeth get fused together with toffee making it impossible to speak for several minuets!

Filed under: acoustics, enki, performance

ART+COMMUNICATION 2008

X International festival for new media culture October 16 – 25, 2008 in Riga, Latvia

spectropica, originally uploaded by Antony Hall. This was one of the best festivals I have participated in so far, alongside the conference was an exhibition in this amazing space, in this image you see a quarter of the space. Though this i was introduced to the notion of ‘wave art’ which has been the theme of a series of, I think, 3 yearly events like this. The highlights were ‘LSP laser / sound performance’ Edwin van der Heideas,  well as, ‘ten Thousand Peacock Feathers in Foaming Acid’ , Evelina Domnitch, Dmitry Gelfand. No one was allowed to take photos in this event – but it was one of the most incredible things i have ever seen. They used powerful lasers projected through bubble membranes, creating large scale projections. We showed a demo of the enki project.

http://www.rixc.lv/08/en/festival/index.html#
Electromagnetic fields are biologically active. Emitting from every electronic device, electromagnetic fields affect our body and the living nature. They interact with the natural emissions and intersect the boundaries of our planet. Invisible and omnipresent, electromagnetic fields have become ghosts of the modern world…

The 10th edition of the “Art+Communication” festival, organised by RIXC, took place in Riga from October 16 – 25, 2008. Entitled SPECTROPIA.

Filed under: acoustics, enki

spectropica “Dreamachine” /2008/

spectropia, originally uploaded by Antony Hall.

Greg enjoys the brain machines at Spectrpia conference in Latvia 2008 presentation from 10111.ORG (Gianluca Ruggeri and Filippo Filliger) “Dreamachine” /2008/. The artists recreated some of the original devices and gave a presentation of the history of the dream machine. They also made screen printed templates for creating your own.

http://www.rixc.lv/08/en/exhibition/artists.html

Filed under: acoustics, enki

ENTER, 3rd international festival for art science and new technology, Prauge

In 2007 I participated in ENTER 3, http://festival-enter.cz/index.php
organised in by CIANT, I never had a chance to blog it. I had two works here, one of which was a performance showing the BZ reaction, the other was the ENKI documentation at the french institute. The Performance was in a 15th century cellar space, beautiful arched ceilings. The problem was it was so cold the chemical reaction did not start. I had to block all the window spaces with cardboard, to try and keep at least some heat in.

The vampire quid was of inspiration to Louis Beck – I was lucky to see a show of his posters and publications last year at the Goethe institute…Having seen the vampire squid recently on utube it reminded me of the Louis Bec show I saw during the festival…

ON VAMPYROTEUTHIS INFERNALIS
Homage to Vilém Flusser

ENTER 3, 3RD INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL ART / SCIENCE / NEW TECHNOLOGIES enter3.org

Filed under: acoustics, enki, performance

blackghost knifefish

blackghost knifefish, originally uploaded by Antony Hall. Image by Elina Chauveaux

The fish in the installation, a great photo by Elina! these fish are quite hard to take a good photo of as they are black , behind glass and always moving around a bit.

Filed under: acoustics

auditory and optical illusions

This page from Diana Deutsch has some excellent examples of auditory illusions – This speech to song example is really suprising – you should take the time to listen to the mp3s provided…
http://www.acoustics.org/press/156th/deutsch.html

This page has some great interactive examples of optical and sonic illusions

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/nest/imager/contributions/flinn/Illusions/Illusions.html

and finally this one, its a bit silly but works really well,the ‘virtual Barbour’ shop or ‘hair cut’ you need to use headphones to listen to this one…

http://fn4.putfile.com/getfile/1202092920video1234sslash2523182989.mp3

Filed under: acoustics , illusions

Tabletop experiments

Tabletop experiments, originally uploaded by Antony Hall.

Experiments @ the big draw UCL 2008

Filed under: acoustics

iLog developments

check out the latest prototype iLog!!! Over the past few weeks the owl project have been developing some new iLogs – This is a test run before it is finally sealed up and polished…Tilt sensors help give a more physical interaction – you have to swing it about a bit to do any thing…The other Owls – Simon and steve currently working on ilogs with accelerometers…

Fully programmable USB connective.
3 controllers (One switchable to Light sensor)
4 directional tilt switching.
4 push buttons
2 Toggle switches

http://www.owlproject.com/

Filed under: acoustics, MAX MSP, performance

On the abundance of nematodes

In an effort to find some further information on nematodes, I found that they are the most abundant of all life forms; N A Cobb a nematologist writes on the abundance of nematodes…

	“If all the matter in the universe except the nematodes were swept away, our world would still be dimly recognizable, and if, as disembodied spirits, we could then investigate it, we should find its mountains, hills, vales, rivers, lakes and oceans represented by a thin film of nematodes. The location of towns would be decipherable, since for every massing of human beings there would be a corresponding massing of certain nematodes. Trees would still stand in ghostly rows representing our streets and highways. The location of the various plants and animals would still be decipherable, and, had we sufficient knowledge, in many cases even their species could be determined by an examination of their erstwhile nematode parasites.”
	— N.A.Cobb

Filed under: acoustics

Forgotten nematode experiment

Rummaging through boxes in my studio i found a lunch box containing the nematode culture my sister gave me for Christmas. It was an unusual present – a tub of yellowish slime smelling of vinegar. These nematodes feed on yeast. The growth medium is porridge oats and a bit of yeast to get it going.

The microscopic worms form tree like patterns as they creep up the sides of the container; writhing masses of worms form super highways; (branches) either to escape the saturated lower regions of the culture or in seeking of new food – i dont know yet. these branchlets seem to persist for quite a while.

I mixed up 3 cultures to with varying amounts of oats and yeast and water unfortunately i lost my notes and forgot about this since Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were still fermenting & wriggling away in this tub with excellent results…

The original Tub showed stubby branches which did not go very high in the container. (originally these branches spread all over the inner surfaces) worms were still invisible.

Tub A and C pictured below..
Nematodes form into evenly spaces spots, clusters of tiny worms, around the inner surface. The worms are less than 1mm long but fairly active – in tub C the worms are inactive and form faint irregular branchings

Tub B
Had very active complex branchings, and the worms had grown to about 2mm!
There is an interesting dynamic with the movement.

In the film (which was made in a bit of a rush) you will notice that when the worm moves across free space & meets another worm they move against each other the seem temporarily magnetize to each other & sometimes to deflect trajectories. This has to be partly to do with capillary build up of liquids around the worms bodies. Perhaps it is easier to collectively amass to hold fluid together, perhaps making it easier to move and feed. I plan to do some time lapse of this…

Filed under: Uncategorized

Slime mold escapes

Simon Parks a microbiologist at University of Surrey, & represents & a “collective” of artists working with slime molds called the Physarum Dynamic. see http://www.unnecessaryresearch.org/

He sent me these amazing images of slime molds creeping over a book. apparently a laboratory accident of some kind – these molds try to escape the confines of the petri dishes given the chance. I would not like to fall asleep near one.

He as well as other members of the institute of unnecessary research have been keeping these as pets.
Simon also works with these ‘bio-fluids’ bacterium which appear to behave like fluids, rather than typical bacterial cultures which tend to propagate in circular growths. I am still not clear on the mechanism of this phenomena, But here is Simon’s take on it;

“This type of bacterium grows as a long chain of many thousands of individual rod-like cells. The chain is extended by the growth of individual bacteria within the chain and these generate a pushing motion. Single chains of bacteria, join together to form threads and the pulsing power is amplified. I think this is how the waves are generated with whole masses of bacterial threads uniting to become a wave that flows around objects and becomes turbulent”

In this image the growth filaments or strands seem to be encircling this opening in the medium; the circular hole that was cut in the agar gel – this looks as if it were liquid pouring through a hole. It would appear that the bacterium obeys the laws of fluid mechanics.

Filed under: acoustics

Cave spider exoskeleton

IMG_4880.jpg, originally uploaded by Antony Hall.

I just spent a week in luxemborge to present the ENKI project at a, exhibition and networking event. “dedicated to the European emerging creation, more than a hundred artists coming from all around Europe, Asia and Canada in the Pépinières programme.”
I took time out to explore the caves of the fortress near the exhibition and found this moldy spider exoskeleton hidden deep inside the rock.

Filed under: acoustics , spiders art bioart cave

Brain waves

In preperation for the next ENKi event, me and Greg spent the day testing the neuro-graphic interface; as an experiment we patched a strong frequency via MIDI to a MAX patch so our brains were modulating all kinds of strange sounds. I dont yet fully understand MIDI – but Later this will combine with the enki interface as a form of feedback.  In this image you can see the  graphics of the brain activity and the  receiver boxes – the sensors are wireless and stuck to our foreheads.

Filed under: acoustics, electric fish, enki, MAX MSP