Every year, the Design Manchester festival hits the city for a series of events, workshops and exhibitions. One year, The Neighbourhood were invited to create a piece of work for the 10x10 exhibition, in which 20 creatives paired up to create 10 exhibits in response to the theme 'Science of Imagination'.

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We collaborated with the team at 24 Design to create the Mind Wave Cave. Using data from an off-the-shelf EEG device, a Raspberry Pi interface and LED strips, we turned people's brainwaves into colourful light patterns. The idea was to capture states of focus (red light) and meditation (blue light) as they happened while the user was wearing the headset. We then encouraged the wearer to control the lights using only the power of their minds, creating delight as the colours changed before their eyes. The idea behind our piece was to speculate on the notion that creativity and imagination is best when you achieve the right balance of focus and relaxation. So, when the wearer achieved high readings in both meditation and focus, a sudden kaleidoscopic burst of colour signified the imagination zone!