REM: Rendered From Memory

This piece explores the quiet turbulence between conscious thought and subconscious memory. A space encoded in the theta wave. These brain waves, typically generated during deep meditation, daydreaming, or the edge of sleep, represent the threshold where logic loosens and raw emotional processing begins. By coding the glitch effect to the rhythm of the theta wave, the artwork becomes a visual metaphor for cognitive instability: moments when suppressed memories surface, when inner monologues stutter, and when identity momentarily flickers. Within that waveform, the hands jitter almost imperceptibly, echoing involuntary muscle movements that occur during REM sleep or meditative surrender. Simultaneously, the entire image tilts microscopically, mimicking the disorientation of slipping into a memory you didn’t mean to access. The mind does not remember in straight lines. It jerks, trembles, loops. This is not a malfunction. This is remembering as it truly happens. The glitch is not error, it is truth revealed through fracture. ⸻ Why Theta Wave? Unlike alpha or beta waves, theta is tied to accessing stored emotions, trauma, imagination, and relearning. It is the brain’s liminal space — where one doesn’t just remember but re-experiences. In this artwork, the glitch is not random; it is precisely when and where the subconscious misfires or bleeds into waking reality. It’s not a malfunction. It’s a memory breaking protocol. How the EEG Theta Data Was Translated into Visual Glitch Movement: The original EEG recording — captured during a deep sleep and dream state — was exported as a raw signal file (e.g. .edf or .csv) containing time-stamped voltage fluctuations across different brainwave bands. Specifically, the theta band (4–8 Hz) was isolated using a band-pass filter. This continuous waveform was then sampled and mapped onto a control system for visual parameters, such as: • Amplitude peaks → triggered pixel displacement magnitude • Frequency cycles → modulated frame jitter timing (hands, tilt, or background) • Phase shifts → introduced glitch skew and micro-rotation angles The result is a dynamic, living image that visually “twitches” and “tilts” in synchrony with actual subconscious electrical patterns not a manually timed animation, but a neural echo rendered in form.