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BIOHARMONIC QUARTET

2018

The Bio-harmonic Quartet is a hybrid performance system that links together several musicians and artists via a biofeedback network. This network acts as a musical interface and uses the collective data of participants’ bodily activities to generate music and soundscapes in collaboration with ML models. The work is an exploration into human-machine relationships within the context of music creation. The piece began as an exploration into BCI and ML technologies and how they might disrupt and evolve music creation, production and performance. It moves beyond the artist's earlier exploration of machine networks and human-machine interaction models to create a more complex human machine system that works in harmony towards creative expression. 

 

The piece consists of machine learning models and basic wearable sensory systems that capture muscle movement, pulse, and BCI data. This work was commissioned by the Shanghai musician B6 (Lou Nanli) and presented at the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra during the second half of the his solo concert Blossoms along-side the Shanghai Philharmonic string quartet, pianists and guitarist Wang Wenwei.

Artists: Benjamin Bacon, Vivian Xu

Performers: B6 (Lou Nanli), Wang Wenwei, Shanghai Philharmonic String Quartet

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Rehearsal with B6, Wang Wenwei, Vivian Xu and the Shanghai Philharmonic (piano and string quartet)

Image of participating artists Benjamin Bacon (left), B6 (middle) and Vivian Xu (right) at the

Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall taken before the performance.

Concert Poster

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