The project is based on the latest insights on the concepts of extended cognition and predictive processing, integrated into an immersive show.
SENSEthe newest project of Association Present Continuousthe festival organizer NOVA, one of the most complex events in Romania dedicated to art-science dialogue built with new creative technologies, has completed the first stages of research and is preparing for the production of an immersive theater show. It will premiere in September at Metropolis Theatre.
NOVA becamestarting with the 4th edition, a biennial event. So, in 2024, it is the SENSE project that continues the basic NOVA research. It explores how interdisciplinary collaboration and integration of social science and neuroscience perspectives in contemporary artistic creation can generate innovation in both creative processes and audience experience.
The SENSE show will offer participants the opportunity to go through a collective cognitive process, where the story and path of the characters is influenced by their decisions and actions together. In an interactive context, the meaning of each performance will be directed by the audience and artists to a different end. The EEG monitoring of the performers will give access to their personal world, and the audio-visual components complete the dynamic universe of the performance.
Concept and direction belong Emilia Paunescuthe scenario being co-created by Emilia together with the dialogue specialist and the writer Monica Cure, who also coordinates the research within the project. The cast consists of actresses Ioana Flora and Silvana Negruțiuthe music of the show is created by Alexandrina Hristovthe video component made by the Berlin artist M.Kardinal, interactivity design of Ygreq Interactive, and the lighting design of Vlad Lazarescu.
Emilia Paunescu
Photo credit: Daliana Iacobescu
Monica Cure
Photo credit: Andreea Mitran
Ioana Flora
Photo credit: Sabina Costinel
Silvana Negruțiu
Photo credit: Liviu Ștefan
Alexandrina Hristov
M. Kardinal
On the research and neuroscience side, the project involves Michel Mittelbronn (neuropathologist, professor, and director of the neuropathology center of the Laboratoire National de Santé Luxembourg) and on Albert Barque-Duran (artist and researcher, coordinator of the Digital Arts and Creative Technologies program at the Interactive Arts & Science Laboratory in Barcelona, invited in research contexts at Harvard University and the University of Oxford), as well as specialists of Mind Architect and Veruvis (Neural Performance Augmentation Research Center).
In preparation for the SENSE project, some of the artists trained their skills and knowledge in March during a residency in Luxembourg, facilitated by the Culture Moves Europe program. They met for two weeks with Prof. Dr. Michel Mittelbronn and, together with doctors and technicians from the Emile Mayrisch hospital in Esch, explored in depth what kind of information can be obtained from EEG monitoring and brain wave interpretation. Also at this stage of development a
project, Mind Architect supported the SENSE team with answers to questions related to the central theme of the research, as well as relevant materials to understand the processes of building trust and managing emotions.
Rehearsals for the show will begin in august and will be doubled by the continuation of the research, through special neural training sessions and deepening of the theories addressed offered to the artists by the Veruvis Neural Performance Augmentation Research Center. Albert Barque-Duran will also assist the artists in a series of rehearsals in Bucharest.
The last stage of the project will be the meeting with the public, in September and October, during 7 performances held at the Metropolis Theatre. Including these representations are designed to contribute to research on the process of collective understanding, through quantitative and qualitative data.
The narrative of the artistic research within the SENSE project and the new applications in art will be available, at the end, on the website of the association Prezent Continuu. The full schedule of the 7 SENSE performances, open to the general public, will be announced soon.
SENSE is a project of the Prezent Continuu Association, co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration.
The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the financing.
Partners: Veruvis Neuronal Performance Augmentation Research Center, Mind Architect, Metropolis Theatre, Spanish Embassy in Romania, Gallery 39
Main media partner: Radio Guerrilla
Media partners: Radio Romania Cultural, Weekend Truth, BIZ Magazine, Haute Culture, Days and Nights, Observator Cultural, IQads, AGERPRES, Mindcraft Stories, Ziarul Metropolis, LiterNet, HAPP.ro, AndreeaVerde.com
Source: www.iqads.ro
