London based composer and musician Tomas Nordmark and Paris based musician and visual artist and musician Per Hüttner have been working together since 2021. Together they develop creative and visionary performances using the technology platform EEGsynth. The EEGsynth is a hard and software platform that allows performers to create sounds and images using neural signals from the human nerves and brain. The technology is unique because it has been has been developed by European artists, musicians in close collaboration with neuroscientists since 2014. In the performances the artists use measurements of a performer’s brain signal on his/her head using an electro encephalogram (EEG) in real time.

You are welcome to join Nordmark and Hüttner for a performance and a demonstration of the technology. In the performance entitled “One Step Closer to the Abyss” they present music and images that are generated and modulated by a performers brain activity in real time. They work with sounds from a traditional electric guitar which has been modulated the brain to create aesthetically interesting sounds. They also have dynamic visuals that are generated in real time by the brain. The performance takes its inspiration from Mark Fisher’s writings and his reflections on the weird and the eerie: how humans and art deal with the unknown in their everyday and in artistic creation.

The EEGsynth platform has grown and developed fast in recent years. It is used by artists and researchers in Sweden, France, Norway, the Netherlands and in the UK. They use signals from the human brain, but also from trees, fish and microbes to create performances. The team has made over 70 performances and workshops in a number of European countries, Mexico, Egypt, Brazil and the US. There has been a lot of interest both the technology. For instance French film maker Fabien Guillermont has made a full length documentary on the project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhdB8lTThrM). Nordmark and Huttner’s tour of Japan and China is the first time that the EEGsynth is presented in Asia.