CELSO

Community Emotional Sound Light Organism (CELSO) is a collaborative performance project that repurposes biosensing and surveillance technologies to transform physiological data from a community of dancers into an immersive environment of sound and light.

About the Project

Community Emotional Sound Light Organism (CELSO) examines the use of biosensing technologies to classify physiological responses into predetermined emotional categories. Such technologies are used in contexts including neuromarketing, government, and security, where their interpretations can inform judgments about individuals and communities.

CELSO responds to the ethical problems of AI-driven emotion recognition, particularly the risks of miscategorization, surveillance, and the loss of individual agency. The project questions the assumption that physiological measurements can reliably establish emotional states and the consequences of using such classifications to evaluate people.

Performance System

Rather than quantifying and categorizing physiological responses into fixed emotional states, CELSO transfers streams of physiological data from a community of dancers into an immersive physical architecture composed of sound and light.

The dancers' physiological signals become intertwined within this environment, forming a collective sound- and light-generating organism. The resulting feedback loop informs the choreography, music, and surrounding environment, creating opportunities for emotional reflection among performers and audiences.

Surveillance cameras and EEG sensors are repurposed as artistic instruments. By placing these technologies within a collaborative performance, CELSO invites audiences to question the validity and ethical implications of automated emotion recognition.

My Contributions

I contributed to CELSO's original concept and wrote much of the project's cybersecurity grant proposal. I also co-designed its interactive performance systems, including the integration of EEG sensing with electronic sound and collective musical interaction.

I developed the Two-Voiced Electrolarynx, an experimental electronic vocal instrument that was subsequently incorporated into the project.

Research Context

CELSO investigates the consequences of collecting and interpreting emotional data, particularly when individuals are miscategorized or subjected to normative judgments through automated systems. It also addresses the limited opportunities that surveilled communities often have to challenge the technologies and classifications imposed on them.

Through speculative performance, the project explores alternative relationships between biosensing, collective expression, and technological mediation, using sound and light to encourage reflection rather than assigning fixed emotional labels.

Awards & Residencies

CELSO received the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity's 2021 Arts Award and participated in the SloMoCo 2021 Summer Micro-Residency.