During European Night of Museums, the atmosphere in the Anatomy Museum will be enriched by a series of three compositions specially created by composer Jachin Edward Pousson. These unique pieces utilise brain bioelectrical activity (EEG recordings) in the music creation process.

'Music starts and ends in the human brain. It begins in the imagination and ends in the perception. Through the eyes of a musical artist, the EEG signal is a fascinating material to work with. It is complex, densely rhythmic, and it is able to reveal hidden aspects of the human experience. This is also what art does - it reveals something beautiful or important about the human experience,' Pousson says.

Jachin Edward Pousson is a researcher at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in Riga. The composer has been developing Brain-Computer Music Interface (BCMI) systems for his doctoral research project for the past few years. These systems transform the electroencephalograph (EEG) signals originating from the brain, and map them to musical or visual outputs in real-time. 

He created the compositions, which will be played for the visitors of the Anatomy Museum throughout the evening, using EEG recordings from three other musicians: pianist Hailong Zhang, saxophonist Arvydas Kazlauskas, and electronic music artist Vadim Pitlan. These recordings were obtained during the musicians' improvisation sessions. Learn more.