MINDCLOUDS. Nubes Mental. Objeto de Juego (Odradek). A ludic art contribution to the 14th Bienal de la Habana.

In this paper we describe and reflect the a ludic art piece that was exhibited at the international art biennale in Havanna. The piece is today of high relevance, as it gives ground to a series of new work developed in the experimental game cultures context in Vienna and abroad, connecting ideas about a new form of art and independent collective game design, applying Ludic Method and The Psycholudic Approach in an idea of games for/with non-humans: The Electroenzephalogram (EEG), a technology for measuring brain activity uses electrodes, that are used in this art piece symbolically. This symbolical transfer of technologies of cognitive and neurosciences are demonstrating exemplarily a new form of artistic research and art in play. The piece as sculptural artefact, as toy, as “objeto de juego” investigates new ways of addressing environmentalism, democracy and the relationship between society and collective cooperative acting. Our artpiece features two radical approaches: 1. A fundamental change of between the roles of “citizen” and “scientist” and “artist” and “researcher”. 2. Players’ roles are mirrored in a visualization of the captured image, of mindclouds made of braindata of the artist, that is allowed to be changed through the play of the visitors. This means that each art biennale visitor can become an activist player potentially manipulating thoughts or “mindclouds” during the game. Our aim is to create a reflexive game that allows the players to embody a change of position in relation to medical devices, as EEG and to reflect the efficacy of cooperative play.