Numina

A creative audiovisual neurofeedback system for exploring mental states. Brain signals are extracted in real time and fed back as algorithmic music and generative visuals, images and sounds that act as mirrors of the self. The aim is a playful, aesthetic experience that reflects the listener’s own subjectivity and builds sensitivity through the coupling of inner and outer states.

The system runs on Python and MaxMSP, with modules that send real-time modulation into Ableton Live. A smoother steadies the signal, a multicurve module records modulation curves to trigger later, and a cognitive accumulator with thresholds detects mental states and sets off audiovisual events.

Presented by Hexagram as DEMO10 in November 2021, with a video that reproduces the embodied experience by narrating a user’s thoughts alongside the science behind them. Also shown at Montreal Connect during Montreal Digital Week in 2021.