Brendan Walker curates Fairground: Thrill Laboratory at the Dana Centre, featuring a heady mix of three classic British fairground rides – the Miami Trip, the Ghost Train and the Booster; an international team of artists, scientists, performers, technologists, psychologists and showmen; and a carnival of experimentation, food, drink, performance, film, music and discussion. Over three weeks in October 2006, the Laboratory explores Pleasure, Frisson, and Excitement.
Visitors ride the rides hooked up to a telemetry system – specially developed by Aerial leading a task force of collaborators – which includes a heart-rate monitor, accelerometer and video camera. Physiological data and facial expressions are captured and beamed live into the laboratory and onto the side of the museum building for audience analysis and delectation.