Production for Creative Technology: AI, Neuroscience & Performance

3 Credits.

This course, offered in conjunction with a Nexus Research Grant sponsored by the Hopkins Bloomberg Center, explores how neuroscience, AI, wearable biometrics, and brain-computer interface (BCI) technology can transform immersive storytelling, interactive media, and live performance. Students will have the opportunity to collaborate closely with an active production that will be in development, rehearsal, and performance at JHU during the 2025-2026 academic year. Initial course meetings will focus on creative research, speculative design, and world-building exercises, utilizing Stanislaw Lem’s iconic science fiction novel Solaris (about an alien planet that can read the brainwaves of humankind) as a source text and springboard for collective imagining. We will juxtapose Lem’s novel with iconic film adaptations (Tarkovsky, Soderbergh) and critical theory about the climate crisis, environmental and synthetic intelligence, planetary-scale computation, and the ontology of “hyperobjects.” Mid-semester, students will work hands-on with neurotechnology and AI, including EEG headsets (Muse, Emotiv, G.Tec), AI tools (Midjourney, Runway, Streaming Diffusion, Hugging Face), and interactive performance platforms (Touch Designer, Isadora). The course culminates in classroom-based, student-led demo performances integrating AI, BCI technologies, and experimental theater techniques (Viewpoints, Wooster Group). Guest artists at the forefront of AI and neurotechnology, along with field trips to the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C., will further enrich the experience.Prerequisite: students must have taken at least one ISET course although exceptions will be granted on a case by case basis based on the student's level of experience.