Simon Ingram and Moniker (Lukasz Buda, Samuel Flynn Scott, and Conrad Wedde), 'Moniker-Ingram Studio Session.

Abstract

Simon Ingram and Moniker (Lukasz Buda, Samuel Flynn Scott, and Conrad Wedde), 'Moniker-Ingram Studio Session,' performed on 'Monadic Device' in Simon Ingram's exhibition 'The Algorithmic Impulse,' at City Gallery Wellington | Te Whare Toi, 22 November 2020. 'Monadic Device' is a collaboration between Ingram, John-Paul Pochin, and Kamahi Electronics. Video by Jeremy Brick. 'Monadic Device' responds to electrical activity in the brain via the input of EEG headset. The machine is programmed to paint a line that wanders around a canvas, avoiding paths previously traced by tunnelling under or glancing off them. The user's beta waves determine the length of lines, and their aplha waves whether lines turn left or right. 'Moniker-Ingram Studio Session' involves a feedback loop between actors in a system. In a series of cycles, electrical activity in Ingram's brain is streamed as data to 'Monadic Device' and to Moniker's synthesisers, becoming a layer in the group's improvised response-as Ingram listens to it.