Leguia + Chafe - Synthetic Aesthetics

Mariana Leguia

Mariana Leguia was born in Peru and lived in Lima until she was 19. From an early age her interests included both the arts and the sciences. She began her academic training in the Department of Visual Arts at the Catholic University in Lima, but subsequently was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and travelled to the US to study at Lawrence University, where she obtained a B.A. in Biology and Spanish Literature. Before starting her graduate work she was part of research teams at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, where she worked on cancer biology and the biochemistry of heat-shock proteins, respectively. In 2005 she obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry from Brown University, where she studied the regulation of egg activation during fertilization. Since then she has been part of the synthetic biology community at UC Berkeley, first in the Bustamante lab, where she worked on the construction of a minimal cell derived from mitochondria, and more recently in the Anderson lab, where she is developing foundational technologies for automated, high-throughput assembly of standard biological parts. andersonlab.qb3.berkeley.edu

Chris Chafe

Chris Chafe is a composer, improvisor, cellist, and music researcher with an interest in computers and interactive performance. He has been a long-term denizen of the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics where he is the center's director and teaches computer music courses. Three year-long periods have been spent at IRCAM, Paris, and The Banff Centre making music and developing methods for computer sound synthesis. The SoundWIRE project launched in 2000 involves real-time Internet concertizing with collaborators the world over. New tools for playing music together and research into latency factors are current goals. An active performer either on the net or physically present, his music is heard in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The five countries "Resonations" concert was hosted by the United Nations in Nov., 2009. CD's of works are available from Centaur Records. Gallery and museum music installations are continuing into their second decade with biological, medical and environmental "musifications" featured as the result of collaborations with artists, scientists and MD's. Upcoming new works include "Electrode" for Laptop Orchestra, TQ01 "tomato quintet" for the San Jose Biennial and "Siren Cloud" for CO2 sensors, duo guitar / piano and audience breath at the 2010 MiTo Festival. ccrma.stanford.edu/~cc/