Catalog description

Title: Portal to your Brain

Credits: Gabriel Alvarez, MHCI 22’; Elaine Lu, MDes 23’; and Rohan Sonecha, BSECE 24’.

Project description:
What if the technology that helps you work and relieve stress knows you better than yourself?

Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic life has been altered by the pervasive presence of video telephony applications at home. And while the majority of workers deem the flexibility added onto their lives as something positive, some questions related to privacy remain unresolved.

Portal to your Brain is an exhibition that recreates the home-office space of the future. It proposes an alternate reality where innovations such as holographic displays and brain-computer interfaces become highly integrated into our environments, allowing for smooth transitions between productivity and relaxation.

In the context of the Haunted House, this project raises concerns about the risks associated with technology’s integration with our homes and our minds, the lack of clear boundaries and the users’ need for control.

Letting headsets establish a direct communication path between our brain's electrical activity and any external device, like a holographic projection, might mean granting external agents access to our inner self. Think about your biggest fear, what would you not like others to know about yourself —“Oh, careful not to think about it. Or else we’ll capture it.”