BigShinyThing

From Smart Studio, Brainball is a two player game where relaxation is counterbalanced with the desire to win. The tiny ball on the game’s table is telekinetically controlled through the use of each player’s brain waves. Both a calm state and an agitated state can affect the outcome of the match with the player who is most passive forcing the ball away towards the opponent’s goal.

The science bit: both players wear a strap around their forehead that contains electrodes and is wired up to a bio-sensor system. This system, that is used to measure the body’s biological signals, is fastened to the forehead and registers electrical activity in the brain - the so called EEG (electroencephalogram). The brainwaves that move the ball forward, increasing the chance of victory, are called alpha and theta waves. They are generated in the brain when one is calm and relaxed. Hence the pose of the guys in the picture.

What Brainball creates is a tension between the will to win and accepted notions of how to: dynamism. ambition, thrust and strength. Instead of activity and adrenalin, it is passivity and calmness that mark the truly successful Brainball player.

Brainball can be experienced at OneDotZero at the ICA, London until 6th June 2005.