Stretch Goals and the Carnival of Mirrors!
WE MADE IT!! Thank you to all our supporters, Dr. Brainlove 2.0 is fully funded. But don't walk away yet, there's still more to do! We're super close to our first stretch goal of $3,000, which will help us give Dr. Brainlove's face a much-need makeover (the playa is harsh, yo!).
An additional $5,000 will allow us to hit our second stretch goal of a revamped DJ booth, dance floor, and chill space! While we've got some exciting lighting projects in the works, they'll be even more exciting if the rest of the party is dancing and chilling with the new glow.
Please help make our stretch goals a reality!
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Artistic rendering of stretch goals, thanks to Jason Porath. Let's light up the brain!
The year's theme for the burn is the Carnival of Mirrors. To us, that means pushing hard to create an experience that is on the edge of reality, to blur the line between dreaming and wakefulness. "Is that a trick of the lighting, dust on my goggles, or did that really just happen?" To us, the Carnival of Mirrors is about the layered juxtaposition of dreaming and reality, leaving one with eerie uncertainty about one's current state. To honor this year's theme, we're excited to present our limited-edition Dr. Brainlove Carnival of Mirrors logo!
Dr. Brainlove: blurring the boundaries between dreams and reality.
The Brain
Dr. Brainlove is a physical platform for expanding your brain, in the form of a climbable interactive brain jungle gym, built on a modified school bus. Dr. Brainlove made her debut at Burning Man 2014, and it was glorious! A team of over two dozen scientists, engineers, artists, and newly-minted angle-grinding enthusiasts spent a sweat-filled three months to put together an entire art car! Since then, Dr. Brainlove has been continuing her life as a traveling neuroscience exhibit, appearing at venues like SXSW and the Bay Area Science Festival. Brains are vehicles for our thoughts, emotions, memories, and experiences, making Dr. Brainlove a quintessential vehicle for any mind-blowing adventure.
Even as we push (and push and push) to improve the structure and vehicle itself, Dr. Brainlove has been mutating into a bigger project than just the art car. This year we've represented our brainloving endeavors at conferences and science festivals, become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and have created a mini and micro version of the interactive lighting too. We're super excited to bring her back to the playa and continue the evolution of Dr. Brainlove!
The Phage at Burning Man 2014, Dr. Brainlove’s inaugural burn
Climb aboard, and tickle your neurons from atop a giant brain! Dr. Brainlove will stimulate all of your senses, including:
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Somatosensory and motor systems: Colossal (27' x 19' x 15') climbable mesh in the form of a brain, based on a brain scan of our neuroscientist crew member Natalia’s brain! Last year, we created Dr. Brainlove’s structure, using technology from Digital Permaculture. The brain now has space for a dance floor and cozy lounging spaces inside.
Auditory system: The dance floor, DJ booth and sound system will keep you going all day and all night long. Programmable lights will respond to the sound system and to output from EEG sensors. You can visualize your brainwaves on a brain 125,000 times the size of your own!
Visual system: The brain will be filled with almost a kilometer of individually addressable LEDs, responding to the neural input of our system. As Dr. Brainlove's eyes light the way, they will act as sensors, driving glowing spikes and waves of cortical activity through the structure.
Dr. Brainlove is neuroscience plus imagination!
New for 2015: Neural Development
Last year, through a combination of luck, a superhuman crew, a few minor miracles, a whole lotta elbow grease, and your amazing help, Dr. Brainlove was born! [cue harp music!]
This year, we want to bring Dr. Brainlove back to the playa! We've been working on significant upgrades to the lighting, the buildability, the overall structure, and we plan to give Dr. Brainlove a facelift as well. To do this, we'll need a bare minimum of $15,000 to get her to Black Rock City, operational, and to make some exciting updates to our brain-controlled lighting.
Beyond Burning Man
Dr. Brainlove's adventures began on the playa, and have continued on beyond the dust. Her scientifically inspired structure and a lighting system that mimics brain activity make her a great educator. Since last year, Dr. Brainlove and our crew have brought brain-controlled interactive art to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, Bay Area Science Festival, the Exploratorium’s Cognitive Technologies Exhibit, among others. With your generous help, we hope to make some much-needed updates and to continue our outreach, teaching kids and adults about the workings of their own brains.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we’re now able to offer tax-deductible credits for your donations, too.
Follow our progress as we build! Get your brain updates at The Adventures of Dr. Brainlove, or sign up for our mailing list.
"This isn't some sacred geometry nonsense. This is neuroscientists making a brain. It's pretty legit." --Laura
Who are The Phage?
Frontage of The Phage camp, at Burning Man 2010
The Dr. Brainlove crew is part of The Phage, diverse consortium of 100+ scientists, artists, and engineers, whose mission is to use art to engage people to learn about science. Our outreach combines scientific concepts and models with interactive art to bring education out of the classroom and into new spaces.
At Burning Man, our science themed camp is located on the Esplanade. Some of the science outreach activities The Phage runs include:
On-playa nightly seminar series. Past topics include subterranean communication, the geology of Black Rock Desert, research on love and emotion, defining reality through information, the neuroscience of meditation, and much more.
Micro-zoo. We brought an entire zoo of micro-organisms, and the microscopes to watch them! (video here)
Suturing workshop. Learn and practice making medical sutures.
Fun with gallium, Fresnel lenses, and liquid nitrogen.
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Brains behind Dr. Brainlove
Many of us are participating in the planning and creation of Dr. Brainlove. Here are just a few of the people who are making sure Dr. Brainlove will be spectacular:
Amelia Arbisser spent her master's in computer science at MIT staring at images of human brains. She has since realized that constructing giant, climbable, technicolor representations of brains is way more fun. When she's not orchestrating the realization of Dr. Brainlove, she works on large scale data analysis tools.
Asako Miyakawa is a UC Berkeley educated neuroscientist, who brought Dr. Brainlove into the world. She is passionate about mixing art, science, and media beyond known boundaries and bringing Dr. Brainlove back to the playa this year.
Alex Maki-Jokela is a mechanical engineer-turned-machine learning engineer who likes jumping between fields and enjoys building technically complicated, biologically inspired art projects. He co-leads lighting for Dr. Brainlove, and contributes to efforts to improve the structure and build process.
Ashley Newton is part of Dr. Brainlove's lighting team, and is designing a new manufactured part that will house and diffuse LEDs and wires across the structure’s bars. She is a co-founder of Sustainable Magic and the Magic Box, where she creates interactive hi-tech art using digital fabrication, and teaches others how to do the same through inspiration and hands-on workshops. Prior to her life as a tech artist and educator, she was a market research analyst and cognitive scientist.
Bodhi Sansom is on his third iteration of his engineering career, now as a code wrangler in a tech startup. His lifelong passion for music guides the auditory aspects of the Dr. Brainlove experience, and as a seasoned burner, he brings much-needed wisdom to execution of the project. He's passionate about using technology to help us share things and realize community through working together.
Bonnie Barrilleaux is a data scientist performing experiments on millions of people to create new products. With a PhD in chemical and biomolecular engineering, her research has spanned many fields including stem cell homing, brain cancer epigenomics, social network analysis, and drinkable DNA extractions.
Dan Good builds abstract sculptures from shapes too simple to think about in configurations too complicated to hold in your head. He is the weld that holds Dr. Brainlove to her chassis.
Henry Holtzman is determined to see all of Dr. Brainlove fit together, no matter how hard he has to lean on a crowbar. When not forcing steel into position, he helps tend to Dr. Brainlove financial matters and is particularly grateful for your contribution! He studied computer science, electrical engineering, and media arts and sciences at MIT, directed research programs at the Media Lab, contributed to MPEG and pioneered the Internet of Things, and now works for a somewhat well known consumer electronics company, heading a design and technology prototyping lab.
Joshua Goldbard delights in building experiential art that engages users and inspires creative thought. Whether it’s angle-grinding, project management or sounds to work to, Josh tries to keep it interesting and entertaining while we build community and art together.
Kara Yu grew up in a family of neuroscience researchers. With her background in finance, math, and computer science, she works with Henry to keeps Brainlove’s budget and finances straight. Dr. Brainlove allows her to get back to her life science roots and spend her free time building something huge and meaningful!
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Ken Lynch is one of the Dr. Brainlove Chassis Drivers, and also helps run Dr. Brainlove safety training. Ken also is the Director of the Reciprocity Volunteer Foundation, the 501c3 non-profit org that allows Dr. Brainlove to flourish beneath its umbrella (i.e., its fiscal sponsor).
Laura Ray is a synthetic organic chemist who sought asylum from specialization in museum objects conservation, and by running the journal PLOS Pathogens. She finds meaning in curating experiences and soundscapes, and is leading Dr. Brainlove's skull and spine redesign efforts.
Mike Murphy is a multimedia creator who helps people tell stories and explain things with pictures, music and words. He co-produces videos for Dr. Brainlove, and is always trying to arrive at clarity within complexity.
Mike Pesavento, one of the lighting leads for the project, is a neuroengineer with a passion for the intersection of brains and… anything. Sporting a PhD in computational neuroscience, he has been working on a variety of projects that involve adding EEG interactivity to art and science installations, including the recent Cognitive Technology exhibit on display at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Mike is creating new ways to translate complex signals using LED lighting systems, including a neural activity map of the brain via EEG.
Natalia Bilenko is a neuroscience PhD student at UC Berkeley. She scans brains and predicts how they will respond to new information. Dr. Brainlove's structure is based on a scan of her brain. With Wendy de Heer, Natalia will use scientific models to control the lights, empowering Dr. Brainlove to react to the visual and auditory world around her.
Nicholas Christie, an Oxford educated engineer, led the structural engineering for Dr. Brainlove’s first year and still provides technical advice. As a kid, he built a car from scratch. Now he specializes in the mechanization of large structures. One of his recent projects is the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, the High Roller, which opened in Las Vegas last year.
Rachel Kalmar is a data scientist, community organizer, and world record holder for number of wearable sensors worn daily. Wrangling noisy data, she investigates how to make wearable and sensor data useful and interactive. A Stanford neuroscience PhD, Rachel has spent over a decade using data to explain, predict and influence behavior. Working on Dr. Brainlove allows her to combine her love of data, the brain, novel visualizations, and bad ideas.
Sean Stevens works on Dr. Brainlove's electronics and lighting system, for which he created the original hardware system and software integration platform. He’s a co-founder of Sustainable Magic and the Magic Box, where he shows people how to have fun combining creativity and engineering through project-based workshops. Sean has led several ambitious hi-tech art projects and created immersive spaces that cause you to go “whoa.”
Tom Bishop has a passion for film-making and photography, co-produced videos for Dr. Brainlove, which he is hoping to evolve into a more substantial documentary. Aside from this, he has a PhD in electronic engineering, specializing in image processing, and works designing computer vision algorithms for exciting new kinds of cameras.
- And too many others to list...
The Dr. Brainlove crew at NIMBY versus gravity. We’re still winning.
Where will the money go?
We have our bus and the steel brain structure, and we’ve been raising money from our camp members to keep our work going throughout the year. However, there are a few major improvements we need to make in order to get to the playa again. We need to raise a minimum of $15,000 more to continue to mutate our vehicle, and will add some stretch goals to create new experiences.
1. Lights: We will be updating Dr. Brainlove’s visual system to have almost a kilometer of individually-addressable LEDs. We will also connect biometric sensors to her lighting system. Your brainwaves and heart rate will surge through Dr. Brainlove!
2. Axonal Upgrade: We would like to upgrade Dr. Brainlove’s axons--rather than connecting our LEDs with zip ties, we’ve found a way to bundle our connective fibers in protective sheaths. Not only will this help diffuse our lighting, but it will also make Dr. Brainlove more climbable as well.
3. Steel and Heavy Lifting: The brain mesh is made from 691 galvanized steel tubes weighing 2,200 pounds. This is no ordinary dome, and we need a variable-reach forklift to help us lift it. We’re working on improving the buildability of our structure and our assembly methods.
4. Mo’ Mutation: Dr. Brainlove’s bus base still looks, well, like a bus. We’ve already given Dr. Brainlove brains, but this year want to give her beauty as well!
5. Music: We will be upgrading Dr. Brainlove’s auditory system with an improved DJ booth and dance floor.
6. Workshop Rental: We are building Dr. Brainlove at an innovative DIY space called NIMBY in Oakland, CA. You may know it from events like the Steampunk Masquerade, featuring Airpusher and the Flaming Lotus Girls’ Serpent Mother. The groups here are a great resource, and we enjoy contributing to this year-round incredible community of dreamers, artists, and builders.
7. Transportation: We will need insurance, registration, and fuel to transport Dr. Brainlove to Black Rock City and back.
Step 1: Build a brain. Step 2: Neural development!
Risks & Challenges
Building a gigantic climbable brain comes with some risks, but we have a great team, a solid plan, and a supportive community to help us work through the kinks! Here are a few of the challenges we are facing:
The brain mesh needs to safely support >50 people climbing all over it. The brain structure is being manufactured by Digital Permaculture, who have significant experience with building stable geodesic meshes. The mesh consists of two layers of tetrahedrons, making it much stronger than traditional geodesic domes used at Burning Man.
Dr. Brainlove needs to be radically illuminated to drive at night. We will be using thousands of LEDs and many meters of fiber optic cable to make sure the car is visible at night. The electronics and fiber optics will be encased in clear protective housing to ensure they can survive the elements and kicks from people climbing on the structure.
Dr. Brainlove needs to pass DMV inspection at BRC. As is true for all mutant vehicles, there is a small possibility Burning Man's DMV will not grant us a license to drive on the playa. Our project has already had one successful year on playa, and we are following all regulations, so we expect the process to go smoothly. If our license is not granted, Dr. Brainlove will be moored at the front lawn of The Phage camp as an art installation. Even while stationary, she will serve as an amazing dancespace, interactive climbing structure, and a science education platform!
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Licensed by the Department of Mutant Vehicles in 2014!
Perks
Our perks include stickers, bandanas, and hoodies with the Dr. Brainlove logo. For the hoodie, the Dr. Brainlove logo will be printed on the back, and the Phage logo on the front.
Nicholas modeling the hoodie with Dr. Brainlove logo on the back.
Liana modeling the hoodie with Phage logo on the front.
Some of our perks are 3D printed in stainless steel, including the Myelinator necklace. It's a brain, with a heart in it. Whoa. Pretty sweet.
The Brain-friend earrings will be laser cut, like this:
And the Brainlove bottle openers will be made of aluminum and similar to this prototype:
We need your support!
We want to create something truly beautiful that will engage people’s curiosity as they interact with it. We believe that Dr. Brainlove will be a museum-worthy piece that will live on and inspire people for decades.
Please help us spread the word about this campaign! With your generous support, we are confident that we can continue to create something truly unique and awe-inspiring. We hope to see you on the playa and beyond!
Dr. Brainlove: not only bringing science to Burning Man, but bringing climbable science education to the rest of the world.