Verrfast – Logan and Wilcox
About the Artwork
Our modern networked society increasingly mediates our experience of the world and each other. While this technology has many benefits it also creates a disconnect between mind and body – a disembodiment of our thoughts from our physical selves that can contribute to an increasing sense of isolation and feelings of stress. The challenge is to find novel ways to use these technologies to compliment, extend and enrich our experiences – to help re-establish the connections between artist, audience and artwork.
Verrfast is an experimental audio-visual installation that integrates a psychophysical system of neuro headsets and heart rate monitors to collect biometric data (EEG and ECG) from several participants. This data is then used as triggers for the sonic and visual channels that are projected back into the performance space. Participants are able to affect the sounds and moving images using meditational techniques to control their biometric data.
The work explores how artist, artwork and audience can be part of a collaborative audio-visual performance, driven by biofeedback loops and generated though sensory immersion in the installation. The thought processes and self-awareness of the participants feed into a control system finely tuned to alter its processes and outcomes based on the data received.
About the Artists
Formed in 1999 and based in Manchester, Logan & Wilcox aim to unpack the prescribed roles assigned to artist and audience in the conventional modes of creative production. They see science and art as attempts to understand and describe the world around us, a catalyst for crossover innovations and attempts to further our understanding of the human experience.
Whilst self-directed enquiry forms the centre of their practice the collective use varying mixed media to promote experimentation, social inclusion, cohesion and develop new ways to enrich the social experience. Artworks range from small-scale installations to large-scale live performances for both cultural institutions and private commissioning bodies – such as Zugzwang (2017) and Neu-collective consciousness (2016) for Liverpool Light Night and live visual sets at the Parklife and Bluedot festivals (2016).