(Suite from) The Rhythm of Life

2013 — 2017

The project experiments with the body’s rhythmical qualities pairing a photon multiplier tube (PMT) to a kinetic interface to sense and sonify individual photon emissions.

In collaboration with:
Mike Thompson, Dave Young and The Analytical Biosciences Department from Leiden University

Individual photons emitted by living tissue affect sensors in the retina, yet neural filters prevent a conscious response perhaps to avoid excess visual noise in very low light. Biophoton emissions have rhythmical pulses and vary depending on an organism’s biological processes and cycles. The cyclical nature of the installation references traditional gamelan music’s repetitive form, representing the cyclical nature of life and believed to connect the “body, mind and soul”.

In its first public performance, placing both hands within a PMT instrument, 56 participants were invited to listen in on their electrochemical pulses, hearing their emissions as complex percussive rhythms in real time. In latter public performances of these 56 datasets, attention was drawn to their affective, individual qualities, sensing forms of stored energy.

Work developed with the support of Stimuleringsfonds E-Cultuur + Stichting DOEN