Pan Studio

A Halloween experience using an electroencephalogram (EEG) to simulate telekinetic powers in audience members. Under the premise of attempting a “séance”, at a suitably haunted venue above Kensal Green cemetery, we asked players of an immersive game, facilitated by The Tom Sawyer Effect, to don an electrical-impulse reading headset and concentrate on a lamp. By reading their alpha and beta brain wave activity, and sending the data through a microcontroller, we were able to translate the intensity of thought into the brightness of the lamp. Players who concentrated hard enough were also able to trigger an off-centred motor hidden beneath the table top, which would cause the table to shake violently.