Artificial brain revives a composer’s ability to create music

At the Art Gallery of Western Australia, visitors gather around a glowing plinth, where a pair of lab-grown “mini-brains” sits beneath a magnifying lens. These organoids, developed from Lucier’s reprogrammed blood cells, generate music in real time.

Lucier, who passed away in 2021, was known for pushing boundaries in experimental sound. In 1965, he famously used brainwaves to make music in Music for Solo Performer. His collaboration with the Revivification team began in 2018, and in 2020, he agreed to donate his cells to the project.

“When you look down into that central plinth, you’re crossing a threshold,” says artist Nathan Thompson. “You’re peering down into the abyss and you’re looking at something that’s alive – just not in the same way as you.”

The soundscape created is both eerie and beautiful, shaped by Lucier’s living neural signals. These signals control mallets and transducers behind 20 curved brass plates, creating a surreal orchestra. Microphones also feed sound back into the mini-brains, allowing researchers to observe whether they change or adapt over time.

The team used custom tech to capture and translate brain activity into sound. While it opens up big questions about creativity, consciousness, and AI, the creators see this work as art above all.

“Where does creativity lie?” Thompson asks. “Can creativity exist outside of the human body? And is it even ethical to do so?”

Lucier’s musical legacy appears set to continue indefinitely. “Just before he died he arranged for himself to play forever,” says Guy Ben-Ary. “He just can’t go. He needs to keep playing.”

It was previously reported that a non-binary AI, created using open-source large language models and image generators, has been accepted as a student at the University of Applied Arts Vienna — marking a global first.