EKTA: A Sensory Awareness Installation by Ashanti Vivia and Chris Korda
EKTA is an interactive multimedia and biofeedback installation that allows a user to control light and sound directly with their brain waves. EKTA mirrors the user’s brain state, allowing them to mentally program many aspects of the experience, in real time. The user wears a special EEG headband, which radios their brain waves to a network of computers. The computers respond with synthesized algorithmic music, and a video projection of continuously morphing kaleidoscopic imagery, both of which follow changes in the user’s brain waves. For example, as the user relaxes, the music gets slower and deeper, encouraging them to relax even more (positive feedback). The experience leads the user through seven distinct stages, which correspond to the seven chakras (energetic centers) of the human body. Each chakra is represented by a unique color, geometry, bass note, and change of musical instrument.
EKTA is the Sanskrit word for UNITY. EKTA allows the user to experience the unification of their inner and outer vibrations. The goal of this heightened awareness is transcendence, a state in which they see things as they really are. As with many meditative and spiritual practices, this has the potential to bring about internal transformation.
