Dalí’s Vision with Enobio EEG: A Concert of Art and Science

What Does the Brain Sound Like?

When audiences walked into Dalí, The Thinking Machine at IDEAL Barcelona, they weren’t just attending a concert. They were stepping into a brain. More specifically, the brain of pianist and composer Rafel Plana.

While he performed the original soundtrack for the Dalí Cibernético exhibition, our Enobio EEG system recorded his brain activity in real time. That data wasn’t just stored for later analysis—it became part of the experience. Visual artists Jordi Massó and Marcel Bagó transformed his neural signals into dynamic 360º projections that filled the space.

Every shift in focus, every burst of emotion, and every moment of creative intensity was translated into light and movement. It was a new kind of storytelling—one told through both music and brainwaves.

Enobio EEG in an Artistic Context

EEG technology is typically found in hospitals and labs. It helps clinicians monitor brain health and researchers understand how we think, feel, and behave. But there's a creative side to EEG as well—especially when used with a system like our Enobio, which is wireless, portable, and designed for flexibility across different environments.

For this event, electrodes were placed on Plana’s scalp to detect the brain’s natural electrical activity. These signals were processed and sent directly to a visual system that interpreted them using emotional metrics like valence and arousal. In simple terms, valence reflects whether an emotion is positive or negative, while arousal tracks its intensity.

This real-time translation meant that every neural fluctuation shaped the visual environment. What the audience saw reflected what Plana’s brain was experiencing at that exact moment. The visuals responded to his state of mind as much as his hands responded to the keys, making the experience a real-time interpretation of Dalí’s vision with the help of our Enobio EEG.

Exploring Dalí’s Vision with Enobio EEG in Modern Art

Salvador Dalí was fascinated by science, he often imagined the brain as a machine, something that could be mapped, decoded, and used as a tool for creation.

That vision made this collaboration a natural fit. The concert brought Dalí’s interest in the technological inner world of the mind into a modern context. By using EEG as part of the performance, the brain became both the subject and the medium of the art. It echoed Dalí’s belief that consciousness itself could be explored, manipulated, and visualized.

Neuroscience in the Art World

The concert was part of a growing trend: artists collaborating with neuroscientists to explore new forms of expression. While Enobio was originally designed for neuroscience research and clinical use, its capabilities have proven surprisingly suited to the world of interactive art.

By mapping emotional states through brain activity, Enobio allows artists to externalize the internal. The Valence-Arousal model provides a framework for interpreting how the brain feels, enabling real-time feedback loops where emotion drives art.

This doesn’t just make for cool visuals—it changes the creative process. Artists can now collaborate with their own neural data, creating work that’s deeply personal and physiologically authentic.

Why This Matters

We often think of creativity as a mystery—something that can’t be measured or explained. However, neuroscience shows that creative states have recognizable patterns. Certain brain rhythms and activity in specific regions correlate with flow, inspiration, and emotion.

What this concert showed is that those patterns aren’t just data points. They can become part of the story we tell through music, visuals, and interaction. And that opens up new ways for audiences to engage with performance—not just as listeners, but as participants in the internal world of the artist.

Looking Ahead: The Future of EEG in Art

This collaboration between Neuroelectrics and IDEAL Barcelona, and everyone involved points toward a growing movement. Artists, technologists, and neuroscientists are finding common ground, exploring what happens when the brain becomes part of the artistic process.

We believe this is just the beginning. Enobio EEG has applications far beyond live concerts. From interactive installations and mental wellness tools to personalized digital experiences, brain data is becoming a new kind of creative material. And with the emotional mapping capabilities built into Enobio, the potential for connection—between artist, audience, and brain—is enormous

As more artists explore this intersection of neuroscience and creativity, Enobio continues to open doors to deeply immersive, data-driven expressions of the human mind.

References

• IDEAL Barcelona: The Thinking Machine

• Pictures by Axel Vaudey