From Strings To Dinosaurs, sound inducing bioluminescent light, Andreas Greiner, 2015

From Strings to Dinosaurs

A Selfplaying Piano Initiates Natural Light

Pyrocystis fusiformis, self-playing grand piano, seawater

In a completely dark room, transparent canisters filled with seawater and mono-cellular algae (Pyrocystis fusiformis) are placed on the strings of a piano. The plankton reacts to the vibrations of the instrument by emitting a natural blue light (bioluminescence). For 13 minutes the music grows increasingly complex following the logic of cell division (2, 4, 8, 16, etc.) until the maximum is finally reached and the composition ends in the complete extinction of sound and light.

Composition by Tyler Friedman, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein 2014

From Strings to Dinosaurs, Installation View at NAK, Andreas Greiner, photo by Ben Kaufman, 2014
From Strings to Dinosaurs, installation view at NAK, Andreas Greiner, photo by Ben Kaufman, 2014
From Strings To Dinosaurs, sound inducing bioluminescent light, Andreas Greiner, 2015

From Strings to Dinosaurs

A Selfplaying Piano Initiates Natural Light

Pyrocystis fusiformis, self-playing grand piano, seawater

In a completely dark room, transparent canisters filled with seawater and mono-cellular algae (Pyrocystis fusiformis) are placed on the strings of a piano. The plankton reacts to the vibrations of the instrument by emitting a natural blue light (bioluminescence). For 13 minutes the music grows increasingly complex following the logic of cell division (2, 4, 8, 16, etc.) until the maximum is finally reached and the composition ends in the complete extinction of sound and light.

Composition by Tyler Friedman, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein 2014

From Strings to Dinosaurs, Installation View at NAK, Andreas Greiner, photo by Ben Kaufman, 2014
From Strings to Dinosaurs, installation view at NAK, Andreas Greiner, photo by Ben Kaufman, 2014