Neurofeedback-controlled Digital Art Helps to Take CryptoArt to the Next Level of Interactivity
Because of the Lotus is an installation art collective that has been redefining the boundaries of fine art and digital art since 2013. Beginning as an art installation space at music festivals that featured large-scale, hand-painted murals that come to life at night using the art of projection mapping, the installation grew rapidly, and has displayed at some of the biggest music and arts festivals in the U.S.
Around 2015, creators Pat Anglin and Moe Angelo began noticing the calming effects of the art’s primary features on its viewers— slow-moving, psychedelic digital effects incorporating gradiented color shifts — and drew the connection to the effects of practicing Biofeedback techniques, that Moe studied in college.
In 2016, the installation was able to launch the start of its interactive Neurofeedback program, where participants are able to control the digital art based on brainwave activity using the Emotiv EEG headset. Not long after, in 2017 the installation acquired its FDA laser variance in order to apply the interactivity to an RGB laser and “liquid sky” effect (created with fog machines) that hovered above the installation.
Fast-forward to 2020, where global pandemic has completely decimated the live music and art industries, and artists and producers are having to reinvent their industries to have any hope of surviving within them. The lack of live events and music festivals, at which the collective averaged 30 appearances per year since 2013, has led them to dig heavily into the world of CryptoArt — digital art “minted” on cryptocurrency blockchain networks.
Moe, the collective’s lead digital artist and board-certified Neurofeedback specialist, dove into the world of CryptoArt head first, and has quickly built up a nice portfolio of digital art minted on Rarible, OpenSea, CryptoArt.ai, and NFT Showroom.
Moe’s latest NFT release officially brings Because of the Lotus into the NFT space with the creation of “Peak Performance” — an extremely rare (1/1) animated NFT that includes an unlockable Muse 2 wireless EEG headset, external electrode and 10–20 paste, and one month of Peak Performance Neurofeedback Training that will allow the owner to control the NFT with their brainwave activity using the Myndlift remote Neurofeedback system.
Peak Performance Neurofeedback training (also known as Optimal Performance), is a heavily sought-after service by CEOs and professional athletes, and focuses on developing Flow State, or the state of being “in the zone.” The user gets live feedback while wearing the EEG headset, and when in the prescribed Alpha SMR (~13–15hz) brainwave pattern, the user receives visual and auditory feedback. When the user falls out of the band of brainwave activity, the feedback stops or changes. Through intense self-awareness, the brain begins to figure out exactly what the brainwave feels like, and what it takes to activate it. It’s like taking your brain to the gym.
Through the Myndlift service, the NFT’s owner will have access to unlimited Neurofeedback sessions using the Myndlift phone app, and five live remote sessions (one intake session with baseline EEG measurement and four training sessions) where Moe will run an active remote training session, manually adjusting thresholds and walking through the process via video call.
The extremely rare NFT is now accepting bids on the OpenSea marketplace. The auction runs until December 7 at about 5:55pm Eastern.
