Revivification

Guy Ben-Ary

What happens to the artists’ creativity once they have passed away? Can the essence of a performer be retained if the person is no longer physically present? Situated within debates around human agency and the impact of generative AI, Revivification is an attempt to immortalise the late composer, Alvin Lucier. The project gives him new life by creating a 'surrogate performer' – a living autonomous entity that keeps on creating, long after his death.

Lucier, a sound art pioneer, donated, in 2021, his blood cells towards realising the project. The artists, then, transformed them into stems cells and differentiated them into cerebral organoids (mini brains) that have the capacity to change in response to stimuli. Revivification features these in an immersive audio installation where both musical ‘action’ and ‘perception’ are unified via a bioelectric system.

Conceptualised with Lucier himself, the sound environment focuses on sonic resonance and reflection, phenomena that he explored throughout his career. The organoid’s neural activity is extended into the space via electromechanical mallets by striking hand-crafted brass plates. Microphones throughout the space ‘perceive’ these tones which are then fed back to the ‘brain’ via electronic stimulations, a closed-loop system that allows it to constantly adapt and compose new work in the gallery space.

Revivification speculates that Lucier's creative essence may persist beyond his death. The project asks questions such as: what is measurable and immeasurable in the creative agency of an artist? And could their ‘surrogate performer’ uncover and express creativity of, and on their own?