Gooey Art Piece Can Read People’s Minds
It’s hard to imagine a case where touching things in a museum is smiled upon. And with good reason; art can be enjoyed solely with the eyes — most of the time, at least. Other times, there are pieces that need a slightly different approach. Julia Boroyava’s Solaris is one of them; getting the most out of it means hooking one’s brain to it.
A two-stage process allows Solaris to work its magic. First, a participant has to put on a special headset so that his or her brainwaves can be monitored. In turn, a magnet-covered motor receives signals and acts accordingly; Solaris looks like a vat of green goo by default, but the metallic black liquid atop it shifts in response to a person’s brainwaves. The end result is that Solaris can turn a person’s mind into a Rorschach test that looks and even feels alive — and by extension, makes it unlikely to produce the same form twice.
Boroyava cooperated with chemist and robotics researcher Edward Rakhmanov to bring Solaris into being; whether she intended to create a science experiment or not, it’s safe to say that she’s gotten results. The goo can effectively read minds and tell a person exactly what they’re thinking — which in hindsight is a bit scary, but exciting all the same.
