Exploring Data and Art Boundaries. An approach to creative systems using biosensors

Abstract

In this paper we show the experimental results obtained in the constructive process of the research project "Big Data. Organizational Aspects (Open Data) and Development of New Creative Abilities (Visual Cartographies, Geolocation and Wearables)", funded by the Complutense University of Madrid and the Santander Group during 2017-2018. The theoretical objective of the proposal is to research the situation of a set of artistic practices that are based on the use of Big Data. The project collects information on a series of systems and artefacts capable of transmitting emotions, experiences and meaning by implementing an open epistemological framework where art, science and technology coexist productively. To define the experiential part of the project, we use data associated with the physiological and relational information provided by living organisms. Our benchmark is the organized matter that configures the human body on the physicality and functional processes that define its variable behaviour over time. To register this activity we incorporate biosensors to our system. The information they provide is key in order to define the proposal: the location of the data provenance, the computer system’s capacity to process and visualize them in real time, and the author’s data interpretation to develop aesthetic-functional systems and formalize living interactive spaces. In this context, we propose three conceptual and operative models for incorporating Big Data into creative processes. In the first one we work with the visualizations provided by the applications programming interfaces (APIs) used in collecting body data. We analyse the signal visual representations and construe the results taking into account the ranges and sampling methodologies proposed in each case. In the second one we focus on the user interface and put forward human-machine interaction models. For this purpose we choose the appropriate biosensors for each situation and provide them with the specific degree of interactivity, connectivity and functionality. Our goal is to record information on ephemeral changes that spontaneously occur in the person due to their physical, emotional and circumstantial context: muscle activity, breathing and facial expression (EMG, Electromyography); body temperature (RTD, Resistance Temperature Detector); postural movement (accelerometer), skin perspiration (GSR, Galvanic Skin Response), heart rhythm (EKG, Electrocardiography), brain activity (EEG, Electroencephalography) and eye movement (Eye Tracking). In the third model we define the object / space physical aspect where the aesthetic experience takes place and we establish the terms and conceptual processes used to constitute its formal structure by data provided by biosensors. Using a learning-by-doing methodology (John Dewey, 1916), this research links the data world and the space of intuition, allowing us to propose creative strategies based on an integrative and relational theoretical-practical perspective.