© Guy Ben-Ary

20th Art Division Jury Selections

cellF

Media performance

Guy BEN-ARY / Nathan THOMPSON / Andrew FITCH / Darren MOORE / Stuart HODGETTS / Mike EDEL / Doug BAKKUM [Australia / United States]

Outline

Pronounced like “self,” cellF is the world’s first “neural synthesizer,” connecting a living neural network in a petri dish to a synthesizer. The network was created from the artist’s cells using iPS cell technology; thus this work is also a self-portrait and an “external brain.” It responds to music by returning sounds from a synthesizer, and through live sessions with living musicians, this not-entirely-human artwork raises questions about the definition of life.