Sound Portrait Library Demo

This video is an example of a vinyl record from the Sound Portrait Library.

Sound Portrait Library is an expanding project that records and collects portraits of people in the form of sound. It is an exploration into preserving a person’s quintessence; ‘the fifth essence’ or element of life, of the unknown, or of something greater than the physical elements we are comprised of.

These delicate yet complex compositions are created with electroencephalography (EEG), a monitoring method that records the electrical signals within the brain.

The electroencephalograms are translated into song, creating a symphony of higher and lower frequencies that link and cohere with each other through harmonics.

The sound portraits allow us to experience the sitter’s mind for 22 minutes as it dances consciously and subconsciously through thoughts, memories, and emotions.

“A unique feeling is invoked from a sound portrait’s notes; the record seems to come alive with a feeling of presence; something undefined that is reminiscent of the sitter’s being. I have become fascinated with the idea of capturing or preserving a piece of a person’s quintessence into a physical object, perhaps as an act of memorialisation; or a safeguarding of their memory against forgetting. Memory falls from our minds into a space of forgetting; there is so much we forget as individuals and as societies. Often I think of the impact of the famous quote from Milan Kundera — ‘The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting’” - Jenna Burchell