2016 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MOBILE BRAIN-BODY IMAGING
AND THE NEUROSCIENCE OF ART, INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY
LIVE AQUA, CANCUN
JULY 24-27,2016
http://yourbrainonart.egr.uh.edu/
. I
2016 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MOBILE BRAIN-BODY IMAGING
AND THE NEUROSCIENCE OF ART, INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY
LIVE AQUA, CANCUN
JULY 24-27,2016
Supported in part by National Science Foundation
Award #IIS 1631608 and the Office of Naval Research
Global Award N62909-16-1-2065
Sunday, 7/24/16
Azur Pool
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Sign-in and get your welcome package at the Hospitality Desk
WELCOME
DINNER
Enjoy a Maya Buffet
7:00 - 11:00 p.m.
Los Porteños Musical Group at 7pm
Mariachi Plata at 9pm
8:00 p.m.
Welcome by Conference Co-Chairs Pepe Contreras-Vidal (University of Houston,
Houston, Texas), Klaus Gramann, (Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany),
Dario Robleto (Multidisciplinary Artist and Poet, Houston, Texas), Claudia
Schmuckli (Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, Houston, Texas) and Todd
Frazier (Houston Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine, Houston, Texas)
8:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Consortium students to meet promptly at Hospitality Desk with Conference Chairs
to review consortium activities. Student Consortium supported in part by the
National Science Foundation IIS 1631608, The University of Houston Brain-Machine
Interface Systems Laboratory, and Conference Exhibitors.
http://yourbrainonart.egr.uh.edu/
Monday, 7/25/16
Conference Center Room Aqua 2
Neuroaesthetics, Arts & the Biology of Creativity
8:00 – 9:00 a.m.
ART&SCIENCE CAFÉ
Aqua Room 1A-C
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
How the creative arts and aesthetic experiences engage the brain and mind
and promote innovation?
Chairs: Pepe Contreras-Vidal (University of Houston, Houston, TX) and Dario
Robleto (Multidisciplinary artist and poet, Houston, TX)
This panel (15 min/speaker) is dedicated to summarizing the state-of-the-art, and/
or identifying issues put forth in recent research on neuroaesthetics, creativity
and innovation.
• Anjan Chatterjee (Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA): The Aesthetic
Brain
• Arne Dietrich (American U of Beirut, Lebanon): The Creative Brain
• Xin Wei Shah (Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ): The AestheticCorporeal Experience
• Gil Weinberg (Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA): Can Robots be Creative?
Open Forum and Discussion
Scribes (Edgar Cardenas, Aaron Colverson, Lindsay Esola, Sargoon Nepaul
and Rebecah Pulsifer) will take notes and report back to all at end of
conference.
Student Consortium: Poster Session and Technology Demonstrations
Stephanie Jefferson (SMI) and Patrick Britz (Brain Products) will demonstrate mobile
integration of simultaneous gaze behavior and brain activity measurements by freely
behaving participants.
Lena Andreessen (Technische Universitaet Berlin) will demonstrate a passive BrainComputer Interface (BCI) as an evaluative tool for art perception. The experiment was
first conducted at the Long Night of Museums in Berlin in 2015 in the Museum of
Stillness.
How do arts-science collaborations employ aesthetics as a means of problem
solving and create meaning through aesthetic problem solving?
Chairs: Horst Hoertner (Ars Electronica Future Lab, Linz, Austria) and Claudia
Schmuckli (Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, Houston, TX)
This panel will discuss the construction of meaning and the ethics, impact and
reach of artworks realized in collaboration with scientists and other professionals.
It will also address the myths, challenges and opportunities surrounding
collaboration between artists, scientists and engineers (12 min/speaker).
• Noah Hutton (Film Director and curator, co-founder of The Beautiful Brain,
an independent blog focused on the dialogue between neuroscience, art,
and other fields of inquiry, New York, NY)
• Dario Robleto (Multidisciplinary artist and poet, Houston, TX)
• Monica Lopez-Gonzales (Cognitive Scientist, Multidisciplinary Artist,
and Co-Founder and Scientific & Artistic Director of La Petite Noiseuse
Productions, Baltimore, MD)
• Janet Biggs (Video Artist, New York, NY)
• Julia Buntaine (Artist and Editor-in-Chief, SciArt in America, New York, NY)
Open Forum and Discussion
Scribes (Madeleine Gorges, Brandon Jones, Stephanie Scott, and Joseph Chi-Sing
Siu) will take notes and report back to all at end of conference.
Lunch with your newly found research partners at one of these restaurants:
• Azur: Mediterranean cuisine and buffet.
• Sea Corner: Seafood with a view.
• Varenna: Italian gourmet cuisine under the trees.
• Siete: Enjoy Mexican cuisine in a sophisticated space of Mexican art and
pop art.
2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Citizen Science in Public Spaces: How museums and other public venues can
engage the public and facilitate interdisciplinary discourse and innovation in
STEAM.
Chairs: Alexander Leonessa (National Science Foundation) and Monica LopezGonzales (Cognitive Scientist, Multidisciplinary Artist, and Co-Founder and
Scientific & Artistic Director of La Petite Noiseuse Productions, Baltimore, MD)
This panel will discuss the myths, challenges and opportunities emerging from
institutional collaborations among, artists, scientists and engineers (15 min/
speaker).
• Laurie Baefsky (ArtsEngine / a2ru, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI)
• Horst Hoertner (Ars Electronica Future Lab, Linz, Austria)
• Roger Malina (University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX)
• Claudia Schmuckli (Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, Houston, TX)
4:30 - 5:00 p.m.
Open Forum and Discussion
Scribes (Grace Leslie, Rebecca Barnstaple, Shane Esola, Federico Gennaro, and
David Rosen) will take notes and report back to all at end of conference.
Performance by Grace Leslie (MIT Media Lab): ‘Vessels’ (15 min)
“Vessels” incorporates electronic music improvisation and sonification of
physiological signals. In this piece, raw EEG signal from a dry-electrode EEG
system is recorded and used to actuate a set of static sound samples. In “Vessels,”
the sonic material is the static, virtual space, and the musical narrative emerges
through an unfolding of cognitive states.
Faculty-Student Collaborative Performance: Miriam Phillips & Karen Bradley
(Dance Department, University of Maryland) and trainees Rebecca
Barnstaple, Aaron Colverson, Jesus Cruz-Garza, Cecilia Fontanesi, Anastasiya
Kopteva, Shane Monds, Sargoon Nepaul, Andrew Paek (University of
Houston): ‘Your Brain on Dance’ (15 min)
‘Your Brain on Dance’ explores closed-loop visual and auditory neurofeedback of
evolving brain waves in action and context during Flamenco and improvisation
dance.
Join newly found colleagues and trainees and have an artful evening at Live Aqua.
Tuesday, 7/26/16
Conference Center Room Aqua 2
Track on Cognitive, Medical and Pedagogical Applications
How the creative arts and neuroscience promote understanding of social
cognition, improve health and advance education?
Chairs: Harry Ballan (Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, Bronx, NY) and
Todd Frazier (Houston Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine, Houston,
Texas)
This session will assess the state of the art and challenges in understanding
cognition in natural settings, the healing power of the creative arts, and the need
for the arts to promote learning and innovation (12 min/speaker).
• Anthony Brandt (Rice University, Houston, TX): The Musical Brain and
Creativity
• Jose Contreras-Vidal (University of Houston, Houston, TX): Exquisite
Corpse: Assaying neural individuality, variation, and intentionality in the
creative arts
• Julie King (Herron School of Art and Design and Department of Neurology,
Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN): Art assessment and
therapy as a brain-based intervention to promote physiological and emotional
health
• Karen Bradley (University of Maryland, College Park, MD): Your Brain on
Dance: Artistic, Pedagogical and Health Implications
• John Michael Schert (Chicago Booth School of Business & UChicago
Arts, Chicago, IL): Role of Artists in Inspiring Creativity and Innovation in the
Workplace
Open Forum and Discussion
Scribes (Amy Belfi, Vicente Estrada, Aaron Faith, Anastasiya Kopteva,
and Melissa Leider) will take notes and report back to all at end of
conference.
Student Consortium: Poster Session and Technology Demonstrations
Demonstration of Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) Technologies:
Ant Neuro will demonstrate complete solutions for mobile recording of
neurophysiological signals in sports, arts, and medical applications.
Mobile Music from your Mind:
Tim Mullen will demonstrate a mobile cloud-powered version of the original
MoodMixer application created with Grace Leslie, a collaborative experience
which remixes music based on real-time EEG-based measures of participants'
cognitive-affective states.
Track on Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) Technologies
How MoBI technologies are changing science, arts and innovation
Chairs: Chang S. Nam (North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC) and Christof
Karmonik (Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX)
This session will review the state-of-the-art, and identify challenges
and opportunities for scientific and societal impact (15 min/speaker).
• Klaus Gramann (Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany):
Imaging Brain Dynamics of Natural Cognition
• Jose Azorin (Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Elche, Spain):
MoBI and the potentiation of creativity.
• Tim Mullen (Founding Creative Director of Mainly Mozart’s “Mozart &
the Mind” festival and Founding CEO of Qusp and Research Director of
Qusp Labs): Your Brain on Music: Exploring the impact of music on our
brains, health, and lives.
• Scott Makeig (University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA): MoBI
Technologies to Study the Mind and the Body.
ART&SCIENCE COMIDA
Open Forum and Discussion
Scribes (Ying Choon Wu, Lukas Gehrke, Guillermo Herrera, Evelyn Jungnickel,
and Andrew Paek) will take notes and report back to all at end of conference.
Lunch with your newly found research partners at one of these restaurants:
• Azur: Mediterranean cuisine and buffet
• Sea Corner: Seafood with a view
• Varenna: Italian gourmet cuisine under the trees
• Siete: Enjoy Mexican cuisine in a sophisticated space of Mexican art
and pop art
MAYA TOUR
2:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Visit to the Museum Maya de Cancún
Meet in hotel lobby at 2:30pm to board shuttle. We will leave sharply at 2:45pm.
Free time to refresh and get ready for an artful evening!
BANQUET
9:00 – 11:00 p.m.
Farewell Dinner at Garden of the Senses
Dancing with the Latin Swing Musical Band
Wednesday, 7/27/16
Conference Center Room Aqua 2
Track on Artistic Brain-Computer Interfaces
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) provide a direct link to access neural
activity about intentionality and emotional intelligence. BCI systems can be
designed for artistic expression, understanding or triggering emotions, and
assessing the aesthetic experiences in freely behaving individuals.
Chairs: Klaus Gramann (Technical University Berlin, Germany) and Anton Nijholt
(University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands)
This session will assess the state of the art and challenges in cognitive and
affective brain-computer interfaces, and their deployment in the service of the
arts and the study of neural individuality and variation (15 min/speaker).
• Chang S. Nam (Industrial & Systems & Biomedical Engineering and
Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC):
Control mechanisms in artistic BCIs
• Thorsten Zander (Technical University Berlin, Germany): Passive BCIs in
museum landscapes
• Edward Vessel (Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt,
Germany): Neuroimaging of aesthetic experiences
• Norberto M. Grzywacz (Georgetown University, Washington, DC):
Inferring Master Painters’ Neuroesthetical Biases from the Statistics of
Portraits
Open Forum and Discussion
Scribes ( Jesus Cruz, Lena Andreessen, Cecilia Fontanesi, Shane Monds, and
Joseph Chi-Sing Siu) will take notes and report back to all at end of conference.
ARTFUL SCIENCE CAFÉ
Aqua Room 1A-C
Technology Demonstrations and Student MoBI Projects
10:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Demonstration of Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) Technologies
APDM Wearable Technologies will demonstrate complete solutions for mobile
recording of whole body movement in sports, science and medical applications.
ROADMAP
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
What we have learned? How art can drive creativity and innovation in
science? How science, technology, engineering and math
(STEM) can best inform, support and partner with the arts (STEAM)?
Team Leaders report back to the participants (10 min per team).
NEXT STEPS
11:30 – 12:00 p.m.
Draft of Consensus Report
Chairs: Pepe Contreras-Vidal (University of Houston, Texas), and Klaus Gramann
(Technical University Berlin, Germany)
12:00 p.m.
CLOSURE OF CONFERENCE
A special thanks to our sponsors and exhibitors
El Castillo (also known as the Temple of Kukulcan), a Mesoamerican step-pyramid located at the heart
of one of the largest Maya cities Chichen Itza