A trio of artists have taken the output of MRI brain scanners as the inspiration for a series of pieces that will be exhibited in Suffolk in September, 2010. Designer Matthias Gmachl, Warp Records composer Mira Calix and electronic musician Anna Meredith have created works for an exhibition called Brainwaves that mashes up science, visual art and sound.
Gmachl is part of design studio Loop.ph, and has created an interactive sculpture that responds visually to sound. He's honed in on the electrical noises made by the machine, and the piece considers how those sounds connect to noises within the brain itself.
Calix, on the other hand, examines the emotional experience of having your brain scanned. She has put together a piece with the help of Meredith and a string quartet which uses the sounds emitted by the scanner as a basis for music. Meredith has also composed a new work of her own which will be performed.
All three have been assisted by cognitive neuroscientist Prof. Vincent Walsh, who is the official Scientist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music. He'll be mentoring the artists and offering a scientific perspective on the work, giving a talk before each concert starts on the background of the MRI.
Another source of inspiration will be scans of different classical musicians playing through different musical scores in their mind. These will be taken at UCL, and offer a visual resource for the artists, alongside the noise of the machine itself.
Brainwaves will also include a series of talks between musicians and scientists on the topics of harmony, group, composition and frquencies.
If you'd like to attend, then you'll need to get yourself down to Aldeburgh's Hoffmann Building in Snape Maltings, Suffolk at 8pm on 18 September, 2010. Tickets cost £10 and are available from the venue's website.
Duncan Geere @'Wired'
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