Panel discussion: “Music in Vitro—playing duets with living neuron cultures”

In conjunction with the innovative Mind in Vitro – Computing with Living Neurons group at UIUC, David Rosenboom and Mattia Gazzola will lead a real-time brainstorming workshop and demonstration to envision a potential longer- term collaboration in neuromusic cybernetics. The workshop will examine possibilities of directly linking the electrical activity sensed in living neuron cultures with a computer music instrument that, in turn, may generate acoustic vibration stimuli for the neurons to react to, creating a new kind of performative biofeedback system. Speculations on how a biosemiotics approach might be helpful in interpreting both the behaviors of neuron cultures and musical results may be explored, along with a quick survey of historical work in biofeedback and the arts leading up to this new possibility. Interactive discussion with colleagues and attendees will be welcome.