Mariko Mori’s Wave UFO, created in 2003, is an immersive installation where viewers find themselves enclosed in a droplet shaped UFO-cyber-pod.
The artwork accesses the viewers’ mental states, controlling orbs of color projected onto the ceiling based on alpha, beta and theta brainwaves. Mori combines computer graphics with the viewers’ brainwave activities, delving into psychical research and UFOlogy themes
seen in media’ fascination with telepathy and mind control.
Different mental states result in variously colored orbs; agitated beta thoughts produce red orbs, wakeful relaxation theta turns them blue and a dreamlike alpha state also turns them blue. When three visitors share the same brainwave wavelength, smaller orbs, referred to as’ coherence spheres’ by Mori, light up together, though this occurrence is rare.
