title: cells
type: interactive audiovisual composition for the Cardiff Gamelan Ensemble based on the sonification of stem-cellresearch protocols
year: 2015
author/composer: Alexandros Kontogeorgakopoulos (composition, interaction design, programming, electronics), Aris Bezas (programming, projection mapping), Tobiasz Wasyliszyn (film)
funded by: a consortium of Welsh universities (Welsh Crucible) in partnership with the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
first performance: Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK, March 2015
The translation of stem-cell research to the clinic includes critical issues such as reproducibility and quality assurance of cell lines. Currently, the practice of stem cell production remains highly idiosyncratic and requires specific craft like skills. Here by utilisation sonification, which is the use of non-speech audio to convey or contextualize complex information, we have introduced a non-narrative (no textual, verbal or video description) approach to assess the practice variations in stem cell resear
Cells is an audiovisual composition with the Cardiff Gamelan Ensemble. The score was created by sonification methods. In the first section of the composition prerecorded diaologues from the research phase of the project were triggered and processed. The interactive videos where recorded from the original lab protocols.
A dedicated web page for the project can be found
here.
More info about the scientific research behind this work can be found on the short paper - abstract The Stem Cell Orchestra - A Non-narrative Approach to Communicate Experimental Processes 30th Congress of the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry, Glasgow, Scotland.