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‘Activating Memory’ is a composition for a string quartet with each of the instruments’ parts generated through a Brain-Computer Music Interfacing (BCMI) program. This program directly accesses the brain via electroencephalogram (EEG) technology, allowing four severely motor-impaired people to create the musical piece in real-time by choosing between four different musical phrases. This unique project was spearheaded by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR) at Plymouth University led by the composer Eduardo Reck Miranda. Heartwarming and fascinating in equal measure, Paramusical Ensemble captures the first public performance of ‘Activating Memory’ at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in London, and explores how emerging brain-computer interface technologies could help those who are unable to walk, move or speak to reconnect and communicate with others, including through creative expression.
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Wellbeing
Through a poetic account of childhood trauma, one woman reclaims her past
28 minutes
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Politics and government
‘Without a poster, you don’t exist!’ – on the curious political banners of Mumbai
20 minutes
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Earth science and climate
A biologist on the sorrows of documenting the Great Salt Lake’s collapse
6 minutes
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Design and fashion
Household items are reborn in a ‘visual symphony of everyday objects’
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Music
As a pianist strikes a chord, visualisations of his notes appear in real time
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Thinkers and theories
Jeremy Bentham was consumed by creating a perfect prison. Here’s the result
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Global history
The strange journey of the Parthenon Marbles to the British Museum
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Animals and humans
Laura fights to protect the magnificence of wild horses running free
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Film and visual culture
The old-time cinema experience endures in a quiet corner of Japan
5 minutes