Created by Guy Ben-Ary, Nathan Thompson, Darren Moore, Andrew Fitch and Stuart Hodgetts, Music for Surrogate Performer explores the notion of preserving a performer’s legacy after their passing. In doing so, it asks: can the essence of the original performer be retained if the person is no longer physically present?

Premiering in the 2023 Venice Biennale, Music for Surrogate Performer is a living, bioengineered musical entity that utilises neural networks to improvise live performances and serve as a proxy for the late and legendary Alvin Lucier, a pioneering composer of the 20th century.

It builds upon Lucier’s historical work, Music for Solo Performer (1965), one that explored the relationship between brainwave activity and sound generation in a temporally responsive sonic event.

Alvin Lucier performs Music for Solo Performer in 2010. Photo WikiCommons

The original piece captured the alpha waves produced by Lucier’s ‘relaxed’ brain, which were then amplified and fed into a network of resonant percussive instruments. In it, Lucier emphasised the cognitive activity of the performer as a central element to composition and challenged the traditional glorification of the performer’s physical prowess by shifting the focus to their actual...