Synthetic Halo

Synthetic Halo is an interactive installation by Kurina Sohn that reimagines the halo as a contemporary interface connecting spirituality, technology, and cultural lineage. The project began with Kurina's encounter with a traditional Buddhist wooden halo in her stepfather’s woodcarving studio in South Korea, which led her to research halo iconography, meditation practices, and symbols of transcendence across religions.

Through field research at Woljeoungsa Buddhist temple, Kurina learned meditation and recorded brainwave activity using a custom-built EEG sensor. Instead of treating neurodata as objective truth, the project presents brainwaves as poetic traces of inner states: temporary, subjective, and impossible to fully measure.

Visitors are invited to meditate while wearing the headset, translating their real-time brain activity into an evolving generative soundscape.