The NeuroRight Arcades

KWP production

Neuro-wea­ra­bles and BCIs (Brain-Computer-Interfaces) are alrea­dy here, and soon they will be eve­ry­whe­re. Because inno­va­ti­on is moving fas­ter than the soci­al and ethi­cal fra­me­works around it, researchers at Columbia University have devel­o­ped 5 NeuroRights: Mental Privacy, Personal Identity, Free Will, Equal Access to Mental Augmentation and Protection Against Algorithmic Biases.


The NeuroRights Initiative has pro­po­sed a kind of Hippocratic Oath, simi­lar to that taken by doc­tors around the world in their com­mit­ment to pro­tect their patients, but applied to com­pa­nies. The aim is to secu­re a com­mit­ment to ensu­re that digi­tal advan­ces do not inter­fe­re with neu­r­o­rights and this has focu­sed on the accep­tan­ce of such an oath by the world’s lea­ding tech­no­lo­gy com­pa­nies.
Inspired by and based on the­se NeuroRights, Roel Heremans and his team are desig­ning a series of five inter­ac­ti­ve instal­la­ti­ons to make each NeuroRight tan­gi­ble for par­ti­ci­pants. They want par­ti­ci­pants to explo­re unas­ked ques­ti­ons about the futu­re of our NeuroRights in a world whe­re BCIs are ubiquitous.

Wearing a real-time BCI headp­ho­ne in front of a cus­tom made Arcade Machine, par­ti­ci­pants will be gui­ded through an aes­the­tic expe­rien­ce whe­re their men­tal sta­te is transpa­rent and mal­lea­ble. With this, the team hopes to evo­ke a vis­ce­ral reac­ti­on so par­ti­ci­pants feel the need for NeuroRights on a per­so­nal level.

The five instal­la­ti­ons were devel­o­ped together with a team of neu­ro­s­cien­tists from KU Leuven and Howest — Digital Arts and Entertainment Kortrijk during resi­den­cies at and with sup­port by Ars Electronica Futurelab, Kunstenwerkplaats Brussel, Werktank Leuven, IKOB Eupen and C‑Takt Pelt. Interactive Design by Tyrell, BCI soft­wa­re by Yuhan Zhang, Thai Duong Truong and Maarten Francq, Neurologial advi­ce by Chie Nakatani and Cees van Leeuwen, Artistic Advice by Emanuele Dainotti and Evan Cole, Arcade Design by Rudi van de Kerkhof

With the sup­port of Flanders, sta­te of the Arts.

Pictures by Roel Heremans