Podcast 236: Guy Ben-Ary

Art + Music + Technology

I recently got a ping from a listener to check out some of the work being done in Perth, Australia; the suggestion is that there is an amazing amount of art coming out of this remote outpost, and that the combination of practices was producing interesting results. One of the people that was identified was Guy Ben-Ary, and on first appearance, I was shocked!

Guy works on art that has a heavy dose of biology involved; in fact, he works in an 'artistic laboratory' called SymbioticA at the University of Western Australia, and finds himself creating systems where cells are not only used to generate music and sound, but are also responding to other musicians in the room!

By creating a unique interaction between cells and analog synthesizers, Guy has created an 'organic' music-making system that is really organic - and it has the neural structure to prove it. He's been experimenting with these systems for a few decades, and the result has been his cellf project, which actually explores the similarities of a neural network and an analog modular synthesizer. Working closely with scientists, instrument builders and musicians, Guy has created a stunning - and a little scary - work that few can match.

Enjoy our chat, where we learn about Guy's decisions to pursue biological art-making, and learn more about where the organic-electronic hybrids might take us!