Revivification is an extraordinary immersive exhibition combining sound and cutting-edge biological innovation to bring to life the musical genius of a deceased composer.

Four years in the making, Revivification delivers a historic first: the in-vitro (external) ‘brain’ of the late composer Alvin Lucier (1931-2021) creating a new work in real time, as a live performance over the duration of the exhibition.

It is developed by artists Guy Ben-Ary, Nathan Thompson and Matt Gingold with neuroscientist Stuart Hodgetts based at the University of Western Australia (UWA), who have individually spent 25 years pushing boundaries in the biological arts.

The physical realisation of Revivification began in 2020 when Alvin Lucier donated his blood for the project. His blood was sent to Harvard Medical School where his white blood cells were reprogrammed into stem cells – the fundamental building blocks of Revivification, using a process called Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (IPSC) technology. Then, the Revivification Team transformed (differentiated) Lucier’s stem cells into cerebral organoids: three-dimensional structures that resemble a developing human brain.