Seeds of Consciousness

Chapter 1

The idea

[Why a tree. What it means to you that it dies and comes back. Where the idea started — the first sketch is shown in Fig. 1.1.]

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Fig. 1.1 — [First sketch of the tree.]

Chapter 2

Listening

Six people sat with EEG headphones and listened to the music (Fig. 2.1). Nothing was acted or chosen — their brains simply responded, moment by moment, and that response was recorded.

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Fig. 2.1 — A participant listening with EEG headphones.

Chapter 3

Signal to branch

Each person's recording shapes a different part of the tree. [How the data drives growth — what makes a branch reach, split or pause.] Fig. 3.1 shows a raw signal beside the branch it became.

EEG trace

Branch

Fig. 3.1 — Left: one participant's signal. Right: the branch it grew.

Chapter 4

Finding the look

The tree went through many lives before this one: glowing neuron-like filaments, ink brush strokes, something stranger and more alien (Fig. 4.1). It settled on fine, white, see-through strokes — dense enough to feel alive, light enough to look like breath.

Fig. 4.1 — Three earlier looks: filament, ink, and the final strokes.

Chapter 5

Fire and ash

In the first song the tree grows from seed to full height. In the second it ignites, burns red-gold, and falls to grey ash (Fig. 5.1) — then begins again.

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Fig. 5.1 — The burn.

Chapter 6

The night

The film premiered on November 7, 2026 at the Eudēmonia Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, projected behind live cello (Fig. 6.1). The names of everyone whose brain built the tree appeared on it as it grew.

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Fig. 6.1 — The premiere at Eudēmonia, West Palm Beach.

Concept, code and visuals — Zain Lone
Music and cello — [PERFORMER]
EEG — [Participants, with permission]