Bio Orchestra

The inner life of an ordinary plant translated to a musical composition

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By translating growth data into sound, Bio Orchestra explores the ability of plants to produce music.

Bio Orchestra is an interactive sound installation that translates the hidden life of plants into an ever-changing symphony. By manually adjusting the growth conditions of actual plants, visitors can influence the musical output.

Tom Kortbeek and Sander van der Krol about Bio Orchestra. — Video: Tanja Busking

Plant-based music

The musical composition is based on the lively inner world of plants: the hormonal balance that is being monitored. By using this data and translating it into music, the feeling of the plant is translated into a tangible form, instead of measuring or describing it.

Arabidopsis Thaliana

Meet the ‘Arabidopsis Thaliana’, an inconspicuous plant with small white flowers. The plant exists all around the world, but grows and develops differently due to local climate, weather and soil conditions.

Through complex adaptations in genes and hormones, the Arabidopsis Thaliana directly responds to changes in its environment (day or night, rain or sunshine). For that reason, it is a popular plant species among scientists, and the perfect protagonist for Bio Orchestra.

Bio Orchestra is developed in collaboration with Sander van der Krol (department of Plant Physiology at Wageningen University), Falk Hübner and Tanja Busking.

In 2022, the project evolved into Arabidopsis Symphony — an immersive AR experience that lets visitors dive into the inner world of plants.

For Bio Orchestra, Tom Kortbeek from Fillip Studios and Sander van der Krol from Wageningen University analyzed the growth of Arabidopsis Thaliana plants

Tom and Sander in the greenhouses of Wageningen University

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