Revealing the Invisible City

Comprehending the human-city bond through data visualisation and sonification

Abstract

This article discusses “Exposing the Invisible: A Brain-driven Audiovisual Walk”, an audiovisual installation that was part of the Digital Media Studio Project entitled Invisible Cities. Commencing with an analysis of the research, and experimental and compositional strategies we devised for the installation, we will explore the possibilities afforded from the creative combination of sounds, visuals, emotions and places, in relation to more general aesthetic considerations relevant to data sonification and visualisation. Our approach understands visualisation as a bridge interlinking the emotions with various types of visual elements and sonification as a translation of the inaudible into the sphere of the audible; most importantly, the combination of both as an instrument for comprehending the human-city bond via the embodied sensory experience of place. Our practice, inspired from the interaction between the lived body and the (urban) environment, uses the EEG data with an artistic approach in order to reflect upon and re-interpret this bond.