24 Feb (Fri)
 |
4pm – 5.15pm |
 |
Rainbow Room, Basement 2 |
Free Admission with registration on a first-come-first-served basis.
In her talk, Dr. Kat Agres will speak about the affordances of music for healthcare and wellbeing, and share exciting new programmes and research projects at this intersection.
She will also reflect on the personal and professional activities that led her to embrace the field of music and health, and to found Southeast Asia's first Centre for Music and Health at YST Conservatory of Music, NUS.
Following the talk, a recent demo of her lab's music-based brain-computer-interface (BCI) will be shared with attendees. Volunteers will be invited to wear an electroencephalogram (EEG) device to control an affective music generation system. This system, known as AffectMachine, leverages music and neurofeedback to help listeners self-regulate their emotion states in real time.
About Kat Agres
Dr. Kat Agres is an Assistant Professor at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and founding Director of the Centre for Music and Health. She received her PhD in Psychology (with a graduate minor in Cognitive Science) from Cornell University, and completed her postdoc in music cognition and computational creativity at the University of London.
Kat has received numerous grants to support her research, and currently investigates music cognition, computational creativity, music MedTech, and the impact of music on health and wellness. She has also played cello professionally, consulted for companies at the intersection of music technology and health, and presented her work in over a dozen countries around the world.
About MENTAL’s Closing Programmes (18 – 26 Feb)
As MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing exhibition draws to a close, join us to explore notions of care, consider different methods of repair and healing, and learn empathy in ways that we are not otherwise used to.
MENTAL’s closing programmes line-up includes Scores for Caregiving workshop and participatory installation by artist Alecia Neo, Dying to Write generative writing workshop with writer-editor Clara Chow, Embracing Music for a Healthier Future talk by Kat Agres (Founding Director of the Centre for Music and Health at YST Conservatory, NUS), and Let's Unpack This conversational card games with social enterprise Happiness Initiative.
MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing offers different perspectives on mental health and wellbeing. It confronts societal bias and stereotypes, encouraging curiosity and connection with ourselves and others.
Join author Clara Chow in a creative writing workshop relating to our memories of and attitudes towards death and dying.
Scores for Caregiving offers a movement workshop co-facilitated by artist Alecia Neo and caregivers from the project Between Earth and Sky*, and a participatory installation open to non-workshop attendees.
How are you? You know that it’s okay to feel what you are feeling, right?
Your feelings are unique and personal.
MENTAL: Colours of Wellbeing is not an exhibition about mental illness, treatments or cures. It is a welcoming place where you can confront societal bias and stereotypes around mental health. MENTAL invites you to embark on an intimate and personal journey that explores the many different ways of being, surviving and making connections, that have become of increasing importance to us all.