Nexus – Exploring Science Through Sound
Neural electrophysiology data transformed into an immersive sound piece
Presented during the Renaissance transdisciplinary exhibition at Le Commun (Geneva), 2–25 June 2022.
Description
N-Plexus transforms neuronal recordings into an immersive auditory experience, preserving the analog essence of electrophysiology. Created solely with an analog electrophysiological amplifier, it captures and amplifies neuronal activity, converting voltage fluctuations directly into sound. Aside from subtle reverb and panning, every recording is unaltered — a raw and authentic glimpse into real experimental sessions.
This piece was created during my PhD in Neurosciences, drawing on the auditory tradition of electrophysiology. In the 1970s, before the advent of advanced microscopy, researchers relied on sound to guide electrodes through brain tissue and detect neuronal activity. Modern automation has largely replaced these auditory cues, though some amplifiers still retain a sound output as a nod to that legacy.
N-Plexus revisits that tradition by recording full experimental sessions from start to finish. The piece opens with the static crackle produced as I manually position the electrodes — a sound shaped by the friction between my hands and the equipment. As the electrode travels from air into the solution bathing the brain tissue, abrupt pitch shifts trace its descent.
Once inside the tissue, the analog device behaves like an oscillator modulated by neuronal membranes, bending voltage into a shifting palette of textures. High-pitched tones emerge as the electrode makes contact with a cell membrane, building toward the characteristic rhythmic firing of a neuron — its pacemaker pulse — rendered visually by the red trace beneath an image of the same cell.
By weaving these sounds together, N-Plexus translates scientific process into sensory experience, drawing audiences into the hidden rhythms of the living brain.
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Artistic Direction
The work seeks to reveal the inherent sound (or noise) of neurophysiological processes while avoiding cliché "sci‑fi brain sounds." It frames real neural data shaping macro perception.
Media
Explanatory video
Gallery
