From: Diane Gromala <newmedia@u.washington.edu>
Subject: ONLINE: Brain Opera
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 10:18:44 -0700


From: Diane Gromala <newmedia@u.washington.edu>

BRAIN OPERA

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab has opened "an
experiment in large-scale artistic collaboration" know as Brain Opera.
Set to premier at Lincoln Center in New York during July 1996, the
sight and sound performance is to be a combination of works by
"musicians, designers, visual artists, hackers, invent[e]rs, etc." at
the lab and anybody who uses the Internet.  Project director and
musician Tod Machover is soliciting digital snippets of audio and
video material for inclusion in the work.

According to the New York Times, Brain Opera is a "life size illustration"
of author Marvin Minsky's idea that "human personality is not controlled
by a centralized conductor in the brain but instead emerges from the
interaction between a multitude of loosely connected mental processes."
The actual performances will vary according to real-time input from the
audience, both those physically at the theater and those participating via
the Internet.  The final act of the show asks the physical audience to
either dance or sit and watch projected images while electronic sensors
detect movement and translates it into an element of the performance.
After New York, the show goes on the road to Edinburgh, Tokyo, and
Singapore.

Visitors to the Brain Opera web site can get more information and marvel
at the dendrite-driven design, but will get something less than the full
experience with a browser other than Netscape 2.0.
MIT/BO: <http://brainop.media.mit.edu/first-page.html>