(Community Emotional Light Sound Organism)

Biosensing technologies are increasingly used by neuromarketers, governments, and security contractors to make normative judgments about people’s physical fitness and mental health through the categorization of physiological data into emotional schema. Miscatergorization of this data presents cybersecurity risks: people may be unfairly tagged as mentally unwell, physically unfit, or unproductive. All too often, there is a lack of respect for the privacy and agency of the individuals and communities whose lives are surveilled, analyzed, and judged through these biosensing technologies. These cybersecurity risks are only amplified by a lack of an adequate feedback process between developers and deployers of these technologies and the communities they claim to serve..

Rather than quantify and categorize these physiological responses into set emotional states, a Community Emotional Sound Light Organism transfers streams of emotional data from a community of dancers into an immersive physical architecture composed of sound and light. The group of dancers’ emotions become intertwined within this physical architecture and act as an independent sound and light generating organism, creating a feedback loop that both informs the dance, music, and environment while facilitating emotional reflection and insight for audience and performers alike. Surveillance cameras and EEG sensors are repurposed to ask audiences to question the ethical implications and validity of AI-driven emotion recognition.

CELSO seeks to raise awareness about the use of emotional data surveillance in public, and the potential cybersecurity risks for people who are miscategorized or othered. The project will engage audiences through an artistic, speculative process in which biosensing technology is used to encourage emotional reflection and insight for communities and individuals.

CELSO won the Center For Long-Term Cybersecurity’s 2021 Arts Award and was part of the SloMoCo 2021 Summer Micro-Residency. CELSO will continue as part of the Dresher Ensemble Artist Residencies from Aug 10-23 , 2022and January 2023.