Music made with genomic and epigenomic data

BarcelonaThe Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (Idibell) and the Ekho Research Group of the University of Barcelona (UB) have presented at Sónar+D, at La Llotja de Mar, HÈLIX. Genomic Variations, a project that, based on genomic and epigenetic data, creates music with artificial intelligence models. It is inspired by studies that consider human musicality to be partially conditioned by genetic and epigenetic factors, with an estimated heritability between 40% and 70%, and proposes a new way to explore and communicate biological complexity by making biomedical research dialogue with the arts and creative technologies.

HÈLIX. Genomic Variations is the result of the collaboration between Magda Polo Pujadas, professor of music and aesthetics and researcher at the UB, and Miquel Àngel Pujana, researcher at Idibell and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), an expert in genomics and cancer. They investigate how the structures present in the genome can be translated into musical structures without losing internal coherence, generating auditory experiences capable of revealing patterns and relationships that are usually hidden in scientific data.

Polo, who had previously presented other artificial intelligence projects at Sónar, and the team she leads have developed a system based on unsupervised artificial intelligence models capable of identifying latent patterns in biological data and establishing correspondences with musical parameters such as rhythm, harmony, texture, or form. The result evokes the diversification processes present in biology.