Organoid Protonoesis is an ongoing series of neurobiological-data-driven interactive transmodal installations that give form and expression to the intricate relationship between living brain-cell organoid firings and generative artificial intelligence. Building upon foundational transLAB research—such as the Synaptic Time Tunnel (SIGGRAPH 2023)—this evolving body of work fuses transmodal media arts, neurobiology, cognitive science, and machine learning.
At its core, the series introduces a real-time interface between spontaneous brain organoid activity and external stimuli, enabling novel interactions between human intellect, artificial systems, and emergent, self-organizing neural connectivity. Across its iterations, live neuronal firing data is converted into hyperedges within hypergraphs, which are then transformed into computational architectural morphologies, generative spatialized sound, and AI virtual entities.
By integrating real-time generative AI with biological systems, Organoid Protonoesis invites participants to explore and reflect on the evolving boundaries of cognition, signal processing, and contemporary media. The ongoing trajectory of the project focuses on refining a true closed-loop interface—establishing bidirectional, real-time communication between the brain organoids, human physical activity in the installation space, and AI Diffusion models.
research team:
transLAB (Marcos Novak, Director)
AI Visualizations/Artifact Design + Fabrication:/ Hardware Setup: Nefeli Manoudaki, Iason Paterakis
Audio Components/Data Analysis: Diarmid Flatley, Ryan Millett, Jazer Sibley Schwartz
Conceptual Collaboration: Nefeli Manoudaki, Iason Paterakis, and Diarmid Flatley
Scientific Team:
Kosik Neurobiology Lab (Ken Kosik, Director) Tjitse van der Molen, Eve Bodnia
Support:
SBCAST (Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, and Technology) (Alan Macy, Director)
UCSB MAT (Media, Arts and Technology Program @ UCSB)
Exhibitions:
ISEA 2025 — Creators' Universe | Seoul, Korea // Protonoesis II
Unite to Light the Night @ Community Arts Workshop (CAW) | Santa Barbara, California / October 2024 // Organoid Protonoesis I — [Funded by the David Bermant Foundation]
UCSB MAT End of the Year Show: Soft AIM @ SBCAST | Santa Barbara, California / June 2024 (Excerpt)
UCSB MAT End of the Year Show: Soft AIM @ California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) Elings Hall | Santa Barbara, California / June 2024 // Organoid Protonoesis I
References:
Molen, Tjitse & Spaeth, Alex & Chini, Mattia & Bartram, Julian & Dendukuri, Aditya & Zhang, Zongren & Bhaskaran-Nair, Kiran & Blauvelt, Lon & Petzold, Linda & Hansma, Paul & Teodorescu, Mircea & Hierlemann, Andreas & Hengen, Keith & Hanganu-Opatz, Ileana & Kosik, Kenneth & Sharf, Tal. (2023). Protosequences in human cortical organoids model intrinsic states in the developing cortex. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 10.1101/2023.12.29.573646.
Molen, Tjitse & Lim, Max & Bartram, Julian & Cheng, Zhuowei & Robbins, Ash & Parks, David & Petzold, Linda & Hierlemann, Andreas & Haussler, David & Hansma, Paul & Tovar, Kenneth & Kosik, Kenneth. (2024). RT-Sort: an action potential propagation-based algorithm for real time spike detection and sorting with millisecond latencies. 10.1101/2024.04.08.588620.