this is so exciting

while undertaking my phd at uwa, I became interested in the idea of genetic music - that is, translating dna sequences into musical equivalencies so that they may be 'copyrighted' by biotech companies. while a whimsical idea, the current explosion in patent applications has forced researchers to think outside the box in terms of genetic ownership.

so far, these translations have been relatively arbitrary. that's why dr nigel helyer's work is so important. as he says "GeneMusik departs from previous experiments in that it is an entirely 'wet' process, which employs chemical and biological means to achieve musical transformations. Rather than taking given DNA structures and rendering them as musical code, GeneMusik takes fragments of conventional Western melody and sequences them as DNA that is subsequently 'bred' and 'mixed' within bacterial cultures.

DNA extracted from these cultures may then be re-sequenced, translated to musical notation and interpreted as new musical forms."



i’ll be keeping a close eye on this fellow...and so should you. his work is reminiscent of Eduardo kak's genesis, which in 1999, stood as the most important humanist interpretation of our genetic make-up.

via we make money not art