"Plenty of us would find it difficult to compose a new piece of music under any circumstances, even in the prime of our lives. But experimental composer Alvin Lucier is making music from beyond the graveat least in a manner of speaking. In a museum in Australia, a recent exhibition allowed visitors to hear sounds generated by neurons grown using the late artist's blood. The exhibit raised questions about both consciousness and creativity and teased at what becomes possible when art meets cutting-edge neuroscience."
"Feltman: I definitely think of John Cage first. I'm probablyI, I wouldn't say I'm an experimental-music fan, but between having a sister who's an opera singer and having done a little bit of modern dance in college with a teacher who loved Merce Cunningham, I guess [laughs] I probably know a little bit more than average. But yeah, I feel like John Cage is, like, the guy."
A museum in Australia hosted an exhibition where visitors heard sounds produced by neurons cultured using the blood of experimental composer Alvin Lucier. The neuronal cultures translated electrical activity into audible sounds, creating music linked to the late artist's biological material. The project blurred boundaries between biological life and artistic creation and provoked questions about consciousness, agency and whether cultured neurons can be said to create music. The installation illustrated how collaborations between artists and neuroscientists can produce provocative sensory experiences. The work also raised questions about consent, legacy and the limits of representing personhood through biological remnants.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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