SIMON is an interactive network of wearable headsets designed to read and translate the emotional states. Headsets record electrical activity in the brain via electroencephalography (EEG). This data is transcribed in color according to a commuter’s cognitive state (i.e. relaxed [blue], stressed [red], tired [yellow], focused [green], etc). A collective color based on an average of user’s mental state is displayed on LED displays located inside the SIMON App. Data collected by the SIMON mobile app plots the sensibility of those engaging with the system.
SIMON connects people emotionally, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, religion, etc. This empathy inducing platform disrupts a traditional social interactivity as it turns a user’s affect inside-out across lights inside the headset and visuals in the phone application. It provides a way to see kindred potentials across a sea of people otherwise withdrawn to their own private world. In this way it establishes a new type of condition, one where their state of mind is an affair in solidarity. This transformative public art experience is made possible via a new and novel confluence of public art practice, scientific method, interface design, and open source technologies. We hope to create an innovative space for users to find common ground in a world full of people increasingly defined by their differences.
