Music composer Alvin Lucier died in 2021. His 'brain' continues to make music in a laboratory

Would you believe if we told you Alvin Lucier, the legendary composer, is still making music even after he died in 2021? But guess what? In a world where everything is possible — thanks to science — a team of scientists and artists has apparently resurrected Lucier, The Guardian reported. Well, the incredible project, called "Revivification," features a lab-grown brain of the US composer, Lucier, and was created using his cells.

Now, housed at the Art Gallery of Western Australia until 3 August 2025, the incredible project began in 2020, after Lucier agreed to donate his blood. Despite his personal struggle with Parkinson's disease, he gave a thumbs-up to this project, encouraging something so unreal. As per reports, Lucier's white blood cells were reprogrammed into stem cells, and then that was transformed into cerebral organoids by the team in Australia. Notably, the project was headed by three artists, Nathan Thompson, Guy Ben-Ary, Matt Gingold, and Stuart Hodgetts, a neuroscientist. But how does this Revivification work? Basically, this brain that has been created in the lab sits on a mesh with 64 electrodes that pick up its neural signals.

Now, these signals are turned into sound by using microphones behind large brass plates on the gallery walls. The minute the mini brain sends signals, the plates react with musical tones and eventually create a live performance. "We’re very interested to know whether the organoid is going to change or learn over time," Ben-Ary said. Throughout the pandemic, the team remained in touch with Lucier through Zoom calls. Although his health continued to deteriorate, the late composer couldn't interact much, but always remained a guiding force for the team. "We were like art students learning from the professor. He had this ability to cut through anything superfluous and get to the core of what he envisioned," Thompson shared. Likewise, Ben-Ary revealed that Lucier saw the project as science fiction; in fact, in their early conversations, he had suggested very ambitious ideas like sending sound waves to the moon.

Meanwhile, an anonymous user who goes by u/zewen_sensei on Reddit shared about Lucier's active involvement in music, despite his demise. Reacting to the post,  u/tired_of_old_memes commented, "I couldn't possibly think of a better way to memorialize Alvin Lucier. It's both brilliant and provocative, just like he would want it. Thanks for sharing!" Similarly, a person who goes by u/chops526 on Reddit said, "It is very much in line with what he was about...and also terrifying thinking of how it could be misused."

While in this case, the science behind developing brains in labs was used to honor the great composer, there has been debate about the practice in general being unethical. This is what a user pointed out; u/several-ad5345 wrote, "I wonder how good the music is though. Because the A.I. music I've heard so far has been hot garbage without an ounce of creative genius." On the other hand, another person, u/alex2374, commented, "I couldn't possibly think of a better way to memorialize Alvin Lucier. It's both brilliant and provocative, just like he would want it. Thanks for sharing."