Living Instruments
A Semi-Stochastic Biomusical Performance
Concert and Workshop
Workshop
'Living Instruments' was launched in 2015 when musician Serge Vuille visited the community laboratory Hackuarium in Lausanne with long-time friend and researcher Luc Henry. The hackerspace – promoting an open, multidisciplinary, and DIY approach to science – was the ideal birthplace for this hybrid performance art project. A first series of simple prototypes evolved into complex and multi-layered technological instruments. This process was furthered by important contributions from three additional people: interactive designer Vanessa Lorenzo imagined exotic human-machine interfaces, physics and electronics guru Oliver Keller built circuits to connect living matters with computers, and sound designer Robert Torche created an elaborate musical landscape. The resulting biomusical performance is like nothing you’ve ever seen or heard before.
'Living Instruments' was first performed in February 2016 at the music venue Le Bourg in Lausanne. After a series of acclaimed performances at Café OTO in London, during the Ferien Kurse Neue Musik in Darmstadt, the Nuit des Musées at the Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel, and the Klang Moor Schopfe Festival in Gaïs, the project will be presented for the first time in Zürich as part of '100 Ways of Thinking'.
Robert Torche is an instrument creator, performer, and improviser of electronic music. He specializes in the making and performing of hardware and software electronic musical instruments. More
Serge Vuille is a curator, percussionist, and composer active in the new and experimental music scene. He recently became the artistic director for the Geneva-based Ensemble «Contrechamps».
Vanessa Lorenzo is trained as a product design engineer and media designer and is now an independent researcher and designer working at the crossroads of media, design, and biology.
Oliver Keller studied applied physics and now works at the CERN Media Lab where he develops user interfaces for scientific exhibitions. He is passionate about music, open source software, and hardware.
Luc Henry launched the Science Booster, the first Swiss crowdfunding platform for science. More
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