Is There A Place In Human Consciousness Where Surveillance Cannot Go? Noor: A Brain Opera

A plethora of global initiatives whose goal is to map every neuron in the human brain are underway (Society For Neuroscience 2015). These investigations have releases an abundance of new technologies, research and methods. They also raise questions concerning privacy, surveillance, autonomy and consciousness. Are we nothing more than our electroencephalographs (EEGs), functional magnetic resonance images (fMRIs) and other biometric data? In the future
could this information be used for security identification, thought reeducation and manipulating memories? Currently,new types of consumer-grade brain sensors are being developed for medical applications, though they are also
appropriated for artistic explorations. What kind of dramatic structures, interventions, methodologies and contexts will emerge as the brain itself begins to drive the performance experience? To metaphorically respond to these questions I have developed an interactive ‘brain opera’ Noor (which translates as ‘light’ in Arabic) based on a simple question, “Is there a place in human consciousness where surveillance cannot go?”