The project

ART AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

NEFFIE, acronym for “Neuroaesthetic Photography”, is a collaborative project developed thanks to a fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration between the Research Centre in Advanced Technology in Health and Well-Being of San Raffaele Hospital, and ICONE, the European Research Centre in History and Theory of the Image of Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan. It aims at providing an experiential and experimental framework to stimulate a convergent vision of Art, Photography, Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, VR/AR, NFT and Metaverse. Specifically, the project is based on a peculiar visual language capable of stimulating our cognitive and emotional system, where neurophysiological responses are monitored by biosensors, processed by an algorithm of AI and interconnected with each other in a shared cognitive-emotional Metaverse.

Technical sheetReport exampleCoffie example
cabina cut

Virtual Exhibition in Real Time n. 1, MIA Milan Image Art Fair, Milan 2021.

Setting NEFFIE  biosensori

Setting of wearable biosensors: EEG, EDA, PPG, FER, Eye tracking.

Soggetto indossa biosensori

Preparation for the experiential and experimental session: the subject wears the biosensors.

The Platform

TRIBUTE TO FRANCO VACCARI

The project involves a complex technological platform, a Dedem Photo Booth used as an art platform, which is the unique symbol and the experiential realization of Neuro-Aesthetic Photography. Representing both an extraordinary avant-garde technology and an artistic tool of aesthetic and cultural emancipation, it is an explicit reference to the Exhibition in Real Time n. 4: Leave a photographic sign of your fleeting visit on these walls by the Italian artist Franco Vaccari, presented 50 years ago at the Venice Art Biennale in 1972. Thanks to the new opportunities offered by technological developments and Artificial Intelligence, NEFFIE re-actualizes the iconic Photomatic, making it the protagonist of what could be defined as a new Virtual Exhibition in Real Time, thus showing the anticipatory topicality of concepts such as “feedback” or “technological unconscious”.

Cabina Neffie-Dedem

The NEFFIE-DEDEM Technology Platform during an experimental and experiential session.

[Photo Courtesy of DEDEM]

The Photo Booth Photomatic DEDEM during Exhibition in Real Time n. 4: Leave a photographic sign of your fleeting visit on these walls, Franco Vaccari - Venice International Art Biennale (1972). [Photo Courtesy of DEDEM]

Gallerie Issert

Virtual Exhibition in Real Time n. 2, Galleria Catherine Issert, Saint Paul de Vence 2022.

[Photo Courtesy of DEDEM]

Exhibition in Real Time n. 4: Leave a photographic sign of your fleeting visit on these walls, Franco Vaccari - Venice International Art Biennale (1972). [Photo Courtesy of DEDEM]

Metapicture and Metaverse

The photographs realized for NEFFIE, defined as “metapictures”, are absolutely unique and particular shots that capture that precise moment in which an ephemeral image is created on a reflecting and translucent medium. These images generate unexpected mechanisms of semantic aggregation, activating complex interpretative processes that stimulate the eye and the mind of the observer. Therefore, looking at a Neuro-Aesthetic Photography is like reading a novel, understanding that all the deepest aspects of the world can only be hidden on its surface.

In this sense, the NEFFIE project stands as a creative form of visual emancipation, individual and collective, able to promote more conscious and attentive gazes, anticipating in full experiential transparency what can happen with the evolution of Augmented Reality. Put into dialogue in the Metaverse, Cognitive Photographs become an archetype of uniqueness in individual creative experiences and a paradigm of authenticity in interpersonal relationships, contributing to the construction of a new culture based on the values of sharing and participation.

VIRTUAL ROOM COFFIESVIRTUAL ROOM NEFFIES
Neffie foto1

The NEFFIE metapicture photographed by the Primary Observer (Alberto Sanna, Immanent Bystander, 2016, Milan).

Coffie foto1

The COFFIE metapicture generated by the emotional-cognitive processes of the Secondary Observer.

Wall Final 3 title

One of the virtual walls of the NEFFIE Metaverse, which contains the COFFIE metapictures generated during the Virtual Exhibitions in Real Time.

Proiezione metaverso

Metaverse projection on Wall

Immersione Metaverso

Subject navigating the same Metaverse via Oculus

THE NEW METAVERSE (2023)

The new virtual environment designed by ETT S.p.A allows an immersive enjoyment of NEFFIE’s digital artworks, enhanced by the possibility to interact in real time with other visitors through their avatars: up to 50 avatars can move freely among the artworks, communicating with each other via microphone and webcam activation.

The Metaverse can be accessed via a link from your desktop, IOS or Android smartphone, or Virtual Reality visor. Designed as a real art exhibition, the Metaverse is a new way of accessing the artworld in the XXI century, opening up new interactive, inclusive and immersive creative horizons.

VIRTUAL METAVERSE EXHIBITION
Fabio Castelli durante immersione nel Metaverso NEFFIE al al MIA FAIR 2023

Fabio Castelli try the Metaverse NEFFIE - MIA FAIR 2023

Utilizzo del Metaverso tramite visori.

Two users try the Metaverse at WAICF Cannes 23

Neffie Spatial Metaverso

View of the new NEFFIE Metaverse, navigable by multiple users at the same time