Life Music: The Sonification of Proteins

Abstract

An artist and a biologist have collaborated on the sonification of protein data to produce the audio compact disc Life Music. Here they describe the process by which this collaboration merges scientific knowledge and artistic expression to produce soundscapes from the basic building blocks of life. The soundscapes may be encountered as aesthetic experiences, as scientific inquiries or as both. The authors describe the rationale both for the artistic use of science and for the scientific use of art from the separate viewpoints of artist and scientist.