Senster

Senster - A Cabaret of Acoustic Curiosities is a spine-tingling performance that mingles music, art and artificial intelligence. Senster is part lecture, part concert and part performance art, drawing the audience into surreal other worlds of sound. The evening climaxes with the infamous frequency or death noise through a giant tube that spans the room. Spine-tingling fun is guaranteed.

For one night only, werewolves will be dancing with artificial lifeforms at the Science Museum’s Dana Centre, London.

A giant sewer pipe will also be used to create an infrasound – an extreme bass sound which some people claim has extreme destructive powers. “We’ll be switching it on during the show and daring visitors to listen to its emanations,” says Sarah Angliss, a sonic artist and engineer behind the show.

The curiosities are part of Senster, a spine-tingling cabaret performance that mingles live music with drama and digital arts.

The werewolves are entirely fictional creations, part of the dark European folktale that runs throughout Senster, but the nature of the artificial life is open to debate. “The artificial lifeforms are strange, cartoon-like oddities that move, change shape or respond in other ways to events on the stage, as they happen. Anyone watching them may be tempted to think they’re alive,” adds Sarah.

“But are they really sensate beings or simply dancing pixels on the screen?” Senster is a thrilling spectacle that throws the audience into the debate.”

Throughout the show, actors and musicians will also use highly unusual acoustic curiosities to provoke these artificial creatures into action. Musical highlights include live performances on the theremin (the B-movie favourite that is played without touching) and the haunting, aquatic sounds of the waterphone. Senster is also the world’s first show to loop samples, live, from a 1900s Edison Phonograph.

The event is taking place on Thursday 28 September, 19.00-20.30 at the Science Museum’s Dana Centre, a venue renowned for groundbreaking and innovative events for adults on science, medicine, technology and the environment.

Kat Nilsson, Events Manager at the Dana Centre said: “Through this piece, participants experience a chilling introduction to music technology and the science of life, both real and artificial. At the Dana Centre we aim to inspire people about science in innovative and unique ways. We hope Senster will prompt them to think about sound in a new way and to question what it means to be a living creature”.

Senster has been made possible by a Wellcome Trust engaging science People Award.

WARNING: Infrasound
Infrasound is used throughout this show. Infrasound is extremely deep, bass sound. It’s so low in pitch, you may feel it rather than hear it. We will be taking care to limit the infrasound to safe levels. However, if you are pregnant, suffer from heart problems or are in any way uncomfortable about experiencing infrasound, we shall give you an opportunity to leave the room.

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