people with disabilities empowered through mind-generated art

people with disabilities empowered through mind-generated art
all images courtesy of jody xiong

chinese artist jody xiong has collaborated with 16 handicapped people — recruited via social media — in the artistic and technological realization of the ‘mind art’ installation. the project participants were asked to choose a winsor & newton paint color, which was placed in balloons equipped with tiny detonators. large canvas panels surrounded the balloons on all sides.

through deep concentration, electronic signals from their brains were captured and sent to a neurosky processing unit that triggered the detonators, which resulted in the formation of abstract paintings. 800,000 renminbi (about USD 130, 700)  from the painting auction was donated to various charities. the results were, quite literally, mind blowing, as the team describe, ‘we showed that although the bodies of disabled people are handicapped, their minds aren’t.’

the disabled man wears a technological headpiece which allows him to paint with his mind

black acrylic paint explodes from the balloon onto the canvas

the disabled youth and his finished work

white acrylic paint bursts onto the four sides of a black canvas

the child stands in front of her work

four canvasses are assembled together into a rectangle

a diagram describes the use of mind-generated power in the creation of art

project info:

client: winsor & newton china
agency: ogilvy & mather shanghai
chief creative officer: graham fink
group creative director: jody xiong
creative directors: rocky hao
art director: jody xiong
designers: jody xiong, allen wang
copywriter: rocky hao, sean sim, martin latham
director: hyden
producer: charlie macpherson
editors: judy luo, mark ng

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.