Epileptiform Tiara

Cast 3D print in silver of a brain wave form. It is very squiggly.

source

Epileptiforms -- a term used by medical polysomnograpers to describe the spiking that occurs within brain waveforms.

I found this tiara on BarbaraAnne's Hair Comb Blog, from a post she made about Tiaras Made from Unusual Materials. In this case, it wasn't the material that was unusual but the source. In her blog post, she says it was a scientist studying Temporal Lobe Epilepsy who created this but she got that wrong. It was actually an artist who has epilepsy who created it. I'll put a link to her info in the rabbit hole. She captured 5 seconds of REM spikes from her sleep cycle, translated the data into a 2D vector graphic, manipulated the shape slightly with 3D Nurbs software, wrapped the resulting 3D vector into a round crown (or tiara) shape, and made a 3D print in sterling silver. Wow!

The artist was the director of the Do While Studio in Boston. I don't think it's still in existence. The website is still up but I think it might be a zombie site. They mention fall courses starting in 2001. I'll put the site down in the rabbit hole. Anyway, their mission statement was

...provides an opportunity for artists to consider the social ramifications of technological expansion, and to prepare for their roles as the creators rather than the consumers of new media.

and their vision statement was

Do While Studio is a small and focused community offering an alternative to the way technology is assimilated in day-to-day art practice. Conceived by artists as a non-profit organization in 1985, we ground our collaborative work in the development and critical appraisal of digital technology - always in concert with traditional forms of artistic expression such as painting, sculpture, poetry, choreography, storytelling, music and design. We believe that artists are the historical purveyors of cultural reflection; therefore, it is essential to our mission that artists participate in the early stages of technological development.

And this is what the artist has to say about this project:

The epileptiforms I have focused on are ones that are found during REM sleep -- a 90 minute segment of deep sleep that occurs a number of times each night. These spikes appear to take place in my own brain where a more common dream baseline would usually be recorded. The electro-chemisty of "dream state" to "seizure state" is particularly rich terrain for me because it speaks to the shifting and expansive potential of what we understand as mind.
Certainly the type of electrochemical mapping found within the Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) experience is not new to the mammalian brain. Like many forms of new diagnostic technology, a definitive diagnosis exists only because we can observe it by electronic monitors. This places diagnosis less on how a person looks or acts and more on the electrical occurrence itself, hence a further objectification of the subjective nature of experience. Here, consciousness is most certainly a property of Matter -- that the succession of subjective states that we feel as a metaphysical self -- the solidity of matter, dissolves into mathematical relationships in space and then are re-formed as object separate from the source. Now disembodied, these "thoughts" are both physical and metaphorical.
The origin of consciousness and its place in structuralism introspection's is also an important reason why I have chosen to work with my own seizures. To work with the spiking data of my own brain is to celebrate other states of consciousness that makes up the numerous natures of mentality and the paradoxical state of my physical self.

So something a little unusual for you all this week - not one of my beloved extra tiaras but one that's pretty unique! I love the whole concept of melding art, science and technology.

image of a white rabbit popping out of his rabbit hole, looking around, and going back in. His rabbit hole is surrounded by grass and some carrots in the ground.

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