Project Title: Augmented Body, Altered Mind

Funding strand: Visual Arts Bursary Award 2019 (strand 1) 

Project Description:

Augmented Body, Altered Mind from AlanJames Burns on Vimeo.

Augmented Body, Altered Mind is a series of interactive artworks that uses a brain-computer interface to immerse visitors in an audiovisual environment that unfolds in real time. Co-created by the public, this immersive artwork brings together art, science and technology, inviting audiences to visualise the way they think and how their brains work while exploring the intersections of the climate challenge and neurodiversity. 

Created by environmental artist AlanJames Burns, the body of work explores and celebrates how divergent cognitive abilities foster creative problem-solving when people work together through collaboration to collectively reshape the world towards a more diverse and sustainable future. Highlighting the importance of accessibility, Augmented Body, Altered Mind welcomes all audiences to engage, collaborate, and shape the artwork.

Climate emergency and well-being are recurrent themes in Burns' interdisciplinary projects. Augmented Body, Altered Mind follows the artist's previous artworks, including VR experiences and a series of psychoacoustic sound installations inside caves, called; Entirely hollow aside from the dark. In these installations, caverns personified the consciousness of Earth struggling with its declining mental health brought on by the human distressing of their body. 

This body of research first germinated during The Performance Corporation’s Space Programme Residency 2018, and was later developed during Burns’ Science Gallery Dublin Rapid Residency 2020. This led to an artwork prototype; Open Mind, Closed System, that was commissioned and exhibited by Carlow Arts Festival 2021. Carlow Arts Festival, through the Arts Council Commissions Award and Arts and Disability Connect Scheme, commissioned Augmented Body, Altered Mind for their 2022 programme. The work was further developed and exhibited at Earth Vision, London, October 2022 funded by Arts Council England & Culture Ireland. Augmented Body, Altered Mind is undertaking a five venue tour across Ireland 2023-2024.

The artwork has been co-created through the divergent and complimentary thinkings of Carys D Coburn and Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan (writing), Michael Riordan (composition), collective Ibragim (digital visuals) and Marek Wolynski (curator).

Aims of the project/work 

With the Arts Council’s Visual Arts Bursary Award in 2019, AlanJames Burns was able to spend time developing the work, research technologies and build partnerships to support the project. The Bursary Award was therefore the beginning of securing further funding for producing Augmented Body, Altered Mind. The initial objective was to creatively explore augmented and virtual reality glasses with brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies for live performances. The aim was also to build on collaborations with creative practitioners and engineers to work with these technologies and therefore create new lines of technical inquiry in Alan’s work. The idea for this enquiry of work was born from a residency Alan undertook in The SPACE Programme 2018 technology residency by Performance Corporation at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. Alan was keen to bring these early development ideas to production, which the Bursary allowed them to do. 

"Augmented Body, Altered Mind", AlanJames Burns

Development of the work/ project

Collaborations were key for the development of Alan’s work using BCI technology. Burns worked closely with BCI technicians, animators, story tellers, poets, composers, coders during studio experimentation and project development. Alan also acquired new skills in producing animated and generative visuals using TouchDesigner and generative audio using MapMSP. This project was the first time Alan created Interactive work for the audience to become an active member. As Alan explains “So I guess this kind of created a catalyst for a new element of my practice which has become a key element for all my projects and applications”.  

The Bursary Award enabled funding for the following:

1. Artist’s fee: investing time into research and development of the work. 
2. Equipment purchase: buying BCI equipment to expand the possibilities of the work.
3. Collaboration: Collaborative research with writers Carys D Coburn and Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan, Composer Michael Riordan, Digital Animators Ibragim, and Curator Markek Wolynski,  for the development of scripts to accompany upcoming BCI projects.
4. Create a prototype for an artwork.
5. Develop a robust project and successfully apply for funding with Carlow Arts Festival to Arts Council Commissions Award and Arts and Disability Ireland New Work Award.

Learnings

Applications

It seems that technologies require extensive explanation and further context in applications, taking up character spaces that could otherwise be used to discuss the creative content of digital artwork within the application’s word count. There is a general lack of understanding regarding the use of technology in creating work, and in some cases, a potential aversion towards digital work.

Digital Work – Need of Prototype 

One of the main learnings from the project was the need to prototype and test digital work, which was essential for accessing project ideas and possible funding. The prototype of this work generated initial audience feedback and images, which then helped explain the digital work in accessible and tangible ways. However, there are limited outlets in Ireland for showing this kind of work at the development stage as Alan explains:   

"We don't really have the space for showing works in progress or prototypes actually and I guess I was lucky enough that the Carlow Arts Festival believed in the project and they wanted to fund a prototype and exhibit it."

Impact 

Alan has become far more technical in their practice and enjoys working with numerous people to drive their process for creating work. The Bursary Award allowed Alan to indeed build on this and develop their work in three areas: to research and develop their digital arts practice, build meaningful technical relationships with creatives to inform their work, and forge partnerships with organisations and funders. These partnerships include: 

• Carlow Arts Festival who enabled Alan to develop a prototype of the work in 2021 and supported a showing of the completed project in 2022

• The Science Gallery’s Rapid Residency connected Alan with experts at Trinity College and DCU

• Arts and Disability Ireland secured production funding for the work in 2021  

• Culture Ireland and Arts Council England funded the exhibition of the work in London at the Earth Vision Gallery in 2022

What’s next? 

Alan has successfully applied for the Arts Council Touring Award 2023 and Augmented Body/ Altered Mind will be touring across Ireland in the second half of 2023 and  early 2024.  Alan is working closely with festivals and galleries, as well as with neurodiverse organisations. The project has evolved since the initial Bursary Award period in 2019/2020, moving away from a technological focus to concentrate on the intersection of neurodiversity and the climate emergency.

Alan has also successfully applied to Creative Ireland’s Creative Climate Action Fund Ignite Strand 2023 for an all-island community engagement project. This project will explore climate action through creative interactive BCI workshops, involving neurodivergent communities and climate action stakeholders across the island.

Further Links: 

• https://www.alanjamesburns.com/
• https://www.alanjamesburns.com/augmented/