Title of the operation

Journey into the Universe of Consciousness

Purpose of the project

The main goal of the project is to use the expertise of Raj Per Toth and Antonio Giacomin, who have been developing for many years the concept of monitoring the human consciousness responses during live music-visual performances with the help of BCI sensors .

The marketed product of the project will be an innovative art installation, with the interactive content described above. All the art material used will be original and the necessary assistance in the development of solutions will be outsourced.

In the business part, we will follow the practice of developing a stand-alone installation that can be marketed as a paid experience or as a performance installation for the purposes of various institutions such as museums and adventure parks. In Slovenia alone, we will present the product to between 30 and 50 stakeholders during the implementation. An important marketing addition to the installation will be a performance by the artist Raj Per Tot, directed by Svetlana Dramlić.

The installation will be designed to be suitable for different target audiences, ranging from older children over 10 years old to older individuals and groups, with appropriate reworking or performance. The project will develop a test installation for individuals and a projection application for the performance.

Our solution addresses the intimate desire of individuals to acquire new knowledge (knowledge and feelings) about themselves, the world and the universe. In a broader sense, we offer an innovative solution-service at the intersection of science and art, which is of interest as part of the offer of scientific, educational and cultural-artistic institutions (in galleries, exhibition spaces or cultural centres and festivals with audiovisual and technological-research content).

Video presentation of the project.

The main objective of the project

The main business indicator of the project implementation is that the Journey into the Universe of Consciousness project will generate two long-term jobs after the funding is completed, who will independently continue to develop and market the project. The Noordung Centre will become a long-term ambassador and promoter.

Activities:

• An added audio-visual work of original art, with the creation of a complete installation that can be moved. The aim of the artistic conception is to delve into the consciousness of the observer and to follow the reactions to the music and to the familiar and unfamiliar real objects projected in the video (using VR gogles).
• The high-tech side in the exhibition of the human brain’s responses in monitoring what is happening with a single BCI sensor attached to the forehead via an existing flexible device. The responses will be analysed using an algorithm that will generate different graphical elements based on brain signals of different wavelengths. These will create artistically personalised video-graphics, which will also be available for purchase.
• Creating a portable installation that can be placed in different locations. In addition, it will also be possible to carry out artistic performances for large groups of people.
• Intensive testing and validation of the installation with users will be carried out by the Noordung Centre, which is a museum of high and space technologies and an ideal place for the development of such applications. Here, test implementations will take place with the involvement of different visitors. The setting up of the demo unit will also be an excellent opportunity to open up further commercial avenues for the project promoter.

Period of implementation: January 2021 – December 2021

The value of the operation is EUR 40.000,00.

Applicant:

Rosa produkcija d.o.o., Radvanjska cesta 45, 2000 Maribor

Partners:

Center Noordung, Na vasi 18, 3205 Vitanje
Raj Per Tot
Antonio Giacomin

The investment is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund.

eu-skladi.si

Completed Activities:

1. Online lectures:

Consciousness in the Universe or the Universe in Consciousness? (30.3.2021)
Integrating technological knowledge, industry, scientific knowledge on art and humanisation of technologies (8.4.2021)
Consciousness of Being in Weightlessness and the Performing Arts (22.4.2021)

2. As part of the Journey to the Universe of Consciousness project activities, we have launched a competition to design a SEAT that will be part of the installation. The UL ALUO-IO, where the design process took place in the MA Integral Approaches in Design 1 course, responded.

The student competition is organised by the Herman Potočnik Noordunga Space Technologies Centre and Rosa Produkcija in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Ljubljana.

Students submitted their entries on 27/05/2021 to the competition email address: svetlana@rosa-production.com and presented their projects to the competition jury on the same day via the ZOOM online platform.

The jury consists of:

Raj Per Tot – architect, audiovisual artist and author of the concept of the project Journey into the Universe of Consciousness

Svetlana Dramlić – director and producer of the project Journey into the Universe of Consciousness

Matej Feguš – entrepreneur and owner of the sustainable furniture company Donar

Primož Jeza – architect and designer and creative director of primozjezastudio

Final report of the competition jury and explanation of the selection of the winning project:

The Jury met on 28 May 2021 at 15.00 to discuss the project presentations in detail. All presentations were comprehensive and of high quality. Already after a first general evaluation of all the designs, the jury recognised in the entries an exceptional diversity of design approaches, a surprisingly high level of professional merit and conceptual coherence to the selected themes. Despite the differences in the initial references, all the designs for the travel seats, each in its own way, captured the essence of the idea of the Journey into the Universe of Consciousness project and the aspirations of the explorer traveller to find his unique place in the journey through his own mental and cosmic expanses. From the aspiration to simulate floating, the metaphor of growth in the form of flowers, spiralling cosmic voids to lunar modules, the desire to feel at ease, to find contact with one’s essence and to immerse oneself in the nucleus of the atom, all the designs reflect the design talent of the students in translating these diverse ideas into a concrete and useful physical reality. Each product in its own right deserves special praise. Therefore, all the competition projects will receive a well-deserved presentation at the exhibition at Center Noordung.

After careful consideration, the jury decided to award the first prize to the project:

“a seat for a journey into the universe of consciousness – the HI Chair” by Jo Zornik and Pia Groleger.

We were convinced by the original artistic value of the product, the consistency of its content and design with the Journey to Space in Consciousness project, its efficient usability, its relatively simple feasibility and, last but not least, the rational choice of materials. The designers have further refined their plans by creating a one-to-one scale prototype of the travel seat, thus indicating the minimal adjustments that may be necessary to bring the seat to aesthetic and functional perfection.

VIDEO:  https://vimeo.com/557978120

PRIZE

The authors of the selected winning project of the student competition, Jo Zornik and Pia Groleger, will be awarded an author’s contract, whereby the competition organisers will pay them a fee of EUR 600 (net). In this way, the authors hand over the right to perform the seat to the organisers Rosa Productions and Noordung Centre within the timeframes and financial conditions linked to the realisation of the project Journey into the Universe of Consciousness. They also agree that the submitted work may be used in promotional material for the presentation of the project, in the media and on the web, and in the actual staging of the art installation, with the names of the authors.

In circumstances unrelated to the Journey into the Universe of Consciousness project, the authors of the winning chair retain all copyright and the freedom to independently agree on the further development and implementation of their original idea.

3. 3D video and sensor testing in Vitanje

On Sunday 17.10.2021 we presented to the general public a test model of the new interactive multisensor application Journey to the Universe of Consciousness. The authors Raj Pertot, ANonio Giacomin and Svetlana Dramlić presented the app to the local population and random and invited guests of the Noordung Centre in the Noordung Centre’s multipurpose hall. The reactions to the innovative experience of experiencing oneself through a journey into the universe of consciousness and admiring the 3D fantasy world of the Sphinx – with original music by Raj Pertot and using a brain sensor and VR glasses – left the visitors almost speechless. They couldn’t help but look at the picture of the brain in action at the end of the experience, and everyone would take it home with them if they could.

Some highlights from the testing:

4. Building the construction and final testing of the full application

On December 19th 2021 we had the final testing and built the 2 constructions that will be a vital part of the new VR multimedia application:

Cocreators and collaborators of the project Journey Into the Universe of Consciousness

Concept and art direction: Raj X Tot

Production: Rosa Production
Director: Svetlana Dramlić
Assisten of producer: Urška Voh

Coorganizer, mentor and promotor: Herman Potočnik Noordung Center of Space Technologies
Consultant and mentor: dr. Dominik Kobold
Organizer: Tanja Tamše

VR technology, programming and design of sensors graphics: Fluido.it and Antonio Giacomin
Design of 3D ambients: Raj X Tot and Antonio Giacomin

Soundtrack: (from Let Sfinge – The Flight of the Sphinx) Raj X Tot and Riccardo Massari Spiritini
Vocal interpretation: Raj Kraljev

Architectural plans and renders: arch. Raj X Tot and arch. Emir Jelkič

SEAT – HI design – Winners of the internal competition at UL  ALUO-IO (The Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design) in the class MA Integral Approaches in Design 1: Jo Zornik and Pia Groleger

Narrator and proof reader of all contents: Vesna Maria Maher

Building of the installation structure: Uroš Mehle
Realization of synaptic sails: Irena Lap