Revivification

Revivification is an extraordinary immersive exhibition combining sound and cutting-edge biological innovation to bring to life the musical genius of a deceased composer.

Four years in the making, Revivification delivers a historic first: the in-vitro (external) ‘brain’ of the late composer Alvin Lucier (1931-2021) creating a new work in real time, as a live performance over the duration of the exhibition.

It is developed by artists Guy Ben-Ary, Nathan Thompson and Matt Gingold with neuroscientist Stuart Hodgetts based at the University of Western Australia (UWA), who have individually spent 25 years pushing boundaries in the biological arts.

The physical realisation of Revivification began in 2020 when Alvin Lucier donated his blood for the project. His blood was sent to Harvard Medical School where his white blood cells were reprogrammed into stem cells – the fundamental building blocks of Revivification, using a process called Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (IPSC) technology. Then, the Revivification Team transformed (differentiated) Lucier’s stem cells into cerebral organoids: three-dimensional structures that resemble a developing human brain.

Alvin Lucier stood among the giants of 20th-century experimental music. He transformed how we think about composition by shifting focus from traditional musical elements to the physical properties of sound itself. His work with brain waves, echolocation, and room acoustics blurred the lines between music, science, and art – an approach that spoke to the artists and researchers at UWA.

At the heart of the installation stands a sculptural object that encapsulates the incubator housing Lucier’s ‘in-vitro brain’, living outside, and beyond his body (the term ‘in-vitro’ comes from the Latin for ‘in glass’).

Lining the walls are 20 large, curved brass plates that are both sculptural and the source of the immersive sound environment. Each of the plates is directly connected to the neural activity of Lucier’s brain organoid. As the ‘in-vitro brains” signals pulse through transducers and actuators, they strike the brass, creating complex, sustained resonances that fill the space with sound.