Zara Ali: Confections of the Mind (Braindance #72603)

for ensemble mosaik

(2024/2025)

This work takes place in a world inspired by Robin Hanson’s The Age of EM. I adapt the model of these beings and create my own group of EMs: digital consciousness copies striving for new aesthetic heights. They share a collective consciousness and experience a hybrid digital-physical reality.

The term »Braindance« comes from the video game Cyberpunk 2077 and refers to an immersive technology that plays a brain recording of all perceptions and thoughts experienced by another person within someone’s mind. In the dystopian world of cyberpunk, Braindances are bought and often have addictive properties.

In an experimental phase, my EMs explore the connection between space, taste, and sound in order to create new experiences. They are simultaneously creators and consumers, immortal yet driven by hunger, never able to die. They don’t know why they exist, but hope that new aesthetic experiences may bring a revelation or at least the feeling of one.

For the visual design of this work, I collaborated with German graphic designer Markus Kanzler, whose concept supports the immersive experience. Additionally, photographer Blake Cecil contributed special photos of dishes from his culinary experiences, which underscore the aesthetic dimension of the work.

The piece is presented in surround sound and, in addition to the usual classical elements, includes live electronics and video.

Zara Ali

(Zara Ali)

Zara Ali (*1995) is a composer from Memphis, Tennessee. She received her Bachelor’s degree in 2018 from Columbia University in New York and her Master’s degree in Composition from the Detmold University of Music in 2022. She currently lives in Frankfurt.

»My work focuses on creating immersive, multidimensional worlds that invite the audience to dwell within them. I often draw inspiration from exploring human development at the intersection of technological advances and speculative future visions. While my music frequently uses programmatic elements, it resists clear dramatic narratives and instead forms a foundation for abstract fantasy forms. In my recent works, I have explored themes such as a future humanity, Neuralink, socially constructed algorithms, free will, and imagined, conscious digital beings. I find music particularly powerful because it addresses the human mind and invites us into spaces that are both real and intangible. I find the perception of sound fascinating because it is so immaterial, making it much harder to deny its truth. My greatest desire is to create a world in which aesthetics are understood as a fundamental medium for shaping human existence.«

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Zara Ali: Confections of the Mind (Braindance #72603)

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