The MiND ensemble (Music in Neural Dimensions) is a new-media performance group that utilizes custom interfaces to explore the mind-machine-music connection. The world premiere performance dived into an uncharted realm of human expression, as the conscious and subconscious minds of the performers become the very fabric of creation.  Hopes and fears were brought to life through EEG brainwave scanning technology.

The traditional paradigm of creativity and art has been as following: there is an artist, a thought process, and fixed medium which reflects those thoughts, leading to the realization of the artist’s expressive vision. Neurofeedback radically shifts this paradigm. Now there is an artist, a thought process, and a dynamic medium that actively interfaces with the very thought processes of the artist himself, a form of expression that drastically reshapes the way we conceive of the creative process. This presents a unique design problem: how can we optimize interaction within a completely intangible instrument?

The ensemble hopes to make strides towards a deeper level of understanding of this question, and a significant contribution to both the scientific and artistic communities in the form of software tools and reference material. The MiND ensemble promotes a richly creative personal awareness in which the mind is the medium. This performance was made possible with generous support from Yahoo! Labs.