

people with disabilities empowered through mind-generated art

all images courtesy of jody xiong



chinese artist jody xiong has collaborated with 16 handicapped people — recruited via social media — in the artistic and technological realization of the ‘mind art’ installation. the project participants were asked to choose a winsor & newton paint color, which was placed in balloons equipped with tiny detonators. large canvas panels surrounded the balloons on all sides.

through deep concentration, electronic signals from their brains were captured and sent to a neurosky processing unit that triggered the detonators, which resulted in the formation of abstract paintings. 800,000 renminbi (about USD 130, 700) from the painting auction was donated to various charities. the results were, quite literally, mind blowing, as the team describe, ‘we showed that although the bodies of disabled people are handicapped, their minds aren’t.’



the disabled man wears a technological headpiece which allows him to paint with his mind



black acrylic paint explodes from the balloon onto the canvas



the disabled youth and his finished work



white acrylic paint bursts onto the four sides of a black canvas



the child stands in front of her work



four canvasses are assembled together into a rectangle



a diagram describes the use of mind-generated power in the creation of art

project info:

client: winsor & newton china

agency: ogilvy & mather shanghai

chief creative officer: graham fink

group creative director: jody xiong

creative directors: rocky hao

art director: jody xiong

designers: jody xiong, allen wang

copywriter: rocky hao, sean sim, martin latham

director: hyden

producer: charlie macpherson

editors: judy luo, mark ng

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.