While Chavez uses her strobe light as a mode for communicating her inner state, she also appropriates the light as a physical gesture of touching (and even beautifying) the mind of the viewer. The intense flickering of the visual stimulation results in greater synchronization between the creative and analytical parts of the brain — a process which draws upon the trailblazing work of neuroscientist W. Gray Walter in the 1940s who contributed the important discovery that flickering light effectively alters the brain wave pattern in the whole cortex of the spectator. While observing the artist perform, the neurobiological activity of the viewer becomes harmonized with that of the artist. In orchestrating what Chavez calls a “mindful communion” between artist and audience, this dynamic performance contributes a new approach to modeling human consciousness as an art material.

​

Tumult belongs to the artist’s intricate investigation of the relationship between elevated states of consciousness and creativity. This body of art and research, entitled On the Science of Mystical Vision, has culminated in a decade-long collaborative research venture with pre-eminent neuroscientists at Goldsmiths College and Queen Mary at the University of London and original contributions to the neuroscience of creativity.