Synopsis For the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Paralympic held at the bird’s nest in Beijing , Chinese artist Jody Xiong was invited by Chief Director Zhang Yimou to create a technologically-powered art installation called ‘The Bloom’. The project brought together 12 disabled people around an 8-meter wide, circular canvas to create a colorful smiley face by detonating paint-filled balloons using the power of their minds. It is a tech and art experiment, an expression of the strength of the disabled. This short film really records the process of the experiment. Description Disable people are not defined by their health conditions or impairments. Combined with the technology of brain wave idea control, the mental power expression of the disabled can be visualised. A group of impaired individuals came together to create a piece dedicated to the Winter Paralympics. They choose their favourite colours and place them in balloons with detonators. Then wear a brainwave-capturing device that sends a signal to trigger a detonator to detonate a balloon, and paint is sprayed on the canvas. The colourful intersections form an abstract “smiley face”, which means welcoming friends from all over the world with laughter. “Smiley face” debuted at the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics. How ‘The Bloom’ Works We have people with disabilities wearing our brainwave controllers, which can capture the EEG (Electroencephalogram) signal of the wearer through the device's receptors. The captured EEG signal will be converted into the corresponding EEG parameter using the NeuroSky biometric algorithm, thus controlling the external detonating device. Our external device is a PLC (programmable logic controller) connecting to 61 detonators via relays and wires. Each detonator is placed into a balloon full of colored pigments. Each person with disabilities can choose one or several ballons that they like. Then we will individually program the balloons via the PLC and match the balloons to the corresponding brainwave device. All they need to do is to focus, so they can convert their EEG signals to commands and trigger the detonation.
