US composer still making music years after his death, here’s how

Alvin Lucier, an experimental musician who died back in 2021 at the age of 90 is still making music thanks to his restored brain in Australia.

Neuroscience and biology have made massive discoveries over the years and this one might just be one of the most fascinating stories of recent times. A team of scientists and artists has successfully reactivated neural tissue derived from Lucier’s blood and used it to create music. Lucier, a pioneer in experimental sound, was the first artist to use brainwaves as a medium for generating audio. Alvin Lucier was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the University of Plymouth in 2007 for his discoveries and work on brainwaves.

“When you look down into that central plinth, you’re crossing a threshold,” Nathan Thompson told The Guardian, an artist and a creator of the project, titled Revivification. “You’re peering down into the abyss and you’re looking at something that’s alive – just not in the same way as you.”

A team of researchers, guided by artist Guy Ben-Ary and led by biological scientist Dr. Nathan Hodgetts, developed cerebral organoids from the white blood cells of the late experimental musician Alvin Lucier. These organoids, resembling miniature human brains, were cultivated during the COVID-19 pandemic through close collaboration with Lucier, who remained actively involved in biweekly virtual meetings until his passing in 2021. Despite his declining health, Lucier contributed visionary ideas, shaping the direction of the project, which aimed to explore intersections of neural activity, sound, and artistic expression.

The resulting installation, known as Revivification, integrates Lucier’s neural tissue with a custom-built system that converts brainwave activity into sound. The organoids were embedded into a mesh containing 64 electrodes, designed to record signals from multiple neural layers. These signals are then translated into sound using adapted open-source software. In a feedback loop, ambient audio from the exhibition space is also captured and transmitted back into the organoids, creating a dynamic system that may evolve or exhibit learning behaviors over time.

“We’re very interested to know whether the organoid is going to change or learn over time,” Ben-Ary, a Revivification team member told The Guardian.

This is a remarkable feat achieved by a team of scientists, neurobiologists, and artists in Australia. What we have witnessed in movies over the years is a fast-approaching reality now.

Read the full story on The Guardian: The composer still making music four years after his death – thanks to an artificial brain

Featured Image credits: Non Event – Alvin Lucier, CC BY-SA 2.0