For centuries, humans have imagined aliens – from ghosts, zombies, mermaids, to Martians – shaping our sociopolitical views on otherness. These imagined beings often reflect our own biases, emotions, and desires. While technology has dispelled some myths, our “inner aliens” have evolved with us.

With their BAD Award-winning project ‘Close Encounters with Inner Aliens’, Taiwanese social designer Hung Lu Chan and neuroscientists Floris de Lange, Floortje Bouwkamp and Matthias Ekman of Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, delve into the theme of inner alien encounters, utilizing fMRI and AI to analyse and explore our internal visual imagery of otherworldly realms. Join Hung Lu Chan at MU Hybrid Art House on Thursday, March 7, in an Evening of Close Encounters where the focus shifts from outer space to our inner worlds, and explore these “aliens within” through guided meditation, AI, and cognitive neuroscience.