Assistant Professor Clay Ewing, of the Department of Cinema and Interactive Media, recently returned from CERN, the birthplace of the world wide web and the Higgs Boson, after participating in TribecaHacks Story Matter, a 5 day hackathon for interactive storytelling about science. Each hackathon team was made up of a storyteller, scientist, blackbox, designer, and technologist. Clay provided his creative technical skills to make a sensory based narrative called Climate Anxiety. For his installation, a user puts on a MindWave EEG sensor and enters a long black box. At the back of the box, a projector shows a video on climate change from the perspective of nature. The viewer’s concentration and attention levels are monitored using the brainwave activity from the sensor. The software then presented the viewer with new images and narrative based on their brainwave activity and personal preference.
Projects from the hackathon were showcased at the CineGlobe film festival. The festival takes place every two years and showcases short films inspired by science. Cineglobe attracted creators from around the world, the first three editions having attracted more than 4000 entries from more than 100 countries around the globe. Thanks to the strong cultural commitment of CERN and the city of Meyrin (where CERN is located), the CineGlobe festival is poised to become one of the most important festivals worldwide for films surrounding the themes of science and technology.
Links
https://tribecafilminstitute.org/events/detail/tribeca_hacks_story_matter
