脑电波：超越声速

地点：英国伦敦威尔顿音乐厅

时间：2011 年 7 月 22 日

客户：巴比肯艺术中心与奥尔德堡音乐节联合 Lumin

在著名神经科学家文森特·沃尔什教授的指导下，《超越声速》探索了大脑丰富的科学、声音和视觉世界，以及“小世界”组织的概念（更广为人知的是“六度分隔”理论）。Loop.pH 与米拉·卡利克斯、安娜·梅雷迪思以及奥罗拉管弦乐团的成员合作，围绕这一主题创作了一场沉浸式的声光表演。

文森特·沃尔什介绍了复杂的神经科学领域，其中仍有大量未知等待探索。我们找到了一种关于空间、数字和时间的整体感知的共同语言，并创作了一个将数字媒体与有机物质相结合的沉浸式动画装置。

舞台设计包括一个悬于弦乐四重奏和观众上方的神经巢。它由一棵不再存活的树制成——被击碎、打散，然后在空间中重新组合，置于一个高度有序的电光丝网格中，其运动与乐手在空间中的位置同步。贯穿整个演出的投影图像展示了对马蒂亚斯颅骨的短暂磁共振成像（MRI）扫描和切片——揭示了大脑活动的惊人画面。

我们试图将经验科学研究所具有的客观理性与自然结构的复杂性和相互关联性进行对比和协调。

以树这种显而易见的形式来加以运用，彰显了从神经网络到生物细胞结构等网络组织内部的分支、分形图案和结构。它还说明了我们是如何将自然客观化、简化并分解，以增进理解的。

这是一个绝佳的机会，来庆祝一种跨学科的实践，这种实践旨在探寻生物学、神经科学、古典音乐与电子音乐以及视觉艺术等领域的联系、交叉点和共同理解。

Brainwaves: Faster than Sound

WHERE: Wilton’s Music Hall, London, UK

WHEN: 22 July 2011

CLIENT: Barbican & Aldeburgh Music Festival with Lumin

Guided by eminent neuroscientist Professor Vincent Walsh, Faster Than Sound explored the rich scientific, sound and visual world of the brain and the concept of Small World organization (more popularly known as six degrees of separation). Loop.pH worked with Mira Calix, Anna Meredith & members of the Aurora Orchestra to create an immersive sound and light performance around this theme.

Vincent Walsh introduced the complex field of neuroscience where there is still so much to be discovered. We found a shared language in the holistic perception of space, number and time and created an immersive, animated installation that marries digital media and organic matter.

The stage design consisted of a neural nest suspended above the string quartet and audience. It was constructed from a tree, no longer living – smashed, fragmented and reconfigured in space within a highly ordered grid-work of electro-luminous strings that synchronized its movement with the musicians position in space. The projected images running throughout the performance illustrate fleeting MRI intrusions and slices into Mathias’ skull – revealing the awesome images of the brain in action.

We were drawn to contrast and harmonise the objective reasoning of empirical scientific study with the complexity and interconnected nature of natural structures.

The use of a tree in its obvious form celebrates the branching, fractal patterns and formations found within network organisations from neural networks to biological, cellular structures. It also illustrates how we objectify nature, simplify it and break it down in order to further understanding.

This was a great opportunity to celebrate a transdisciplinary practice looking for connections, cross-overs and shared understandings from the fields of biology, neuroscience, classical and electronic music as well as the visual arts.