Autopoiesis is a multimedia work created by Liubo Borissov and Maja Cerar for violin, electroluminescent wire, live video, and sound synthesis/processing.

Co-created by Liubo Borissov and Maja Cerar, 2003-2005.

Performance at Merce Cunningham Dance Studio, New York City, 2003.

Created by Liubo Borissov and Maja Cerar, Autopoiesis is a work that creates imagined realities and is, in part, also a  document of the discussions between the two authors about the beginning of the universe. It tackles the idea of existing in more than one place at a single time and coping with a duplicate of oneself. It is also an exploration of degrees in and limits to comprehending relations between cause and effect, between mass and vacuum, and is played out in a dialogue between a physical figure and its virtual (projected) manifestation, in which both of them constantly move and change without evolving.

One could see the lines projected on the screen as representing an immediate perception of reality, the glowing wire on stage a scientific investigation of matter and force determining its movement. In this spectacle, the violinist and artist behind the computer who are pulling the strings, without the audience exactly seeing how or knowing why, become the mythological explanation of the forces of the illusion. 

In performance, the hall is darkened as much as possible and the violinist wears a uniquely designed set of glowing elwires. A video camera is trained on the violinist, and a computer tracks her movements. As she moves, the computer uses the information of her location to process the sound of the violin and the moving image of her figure. These computer-generated materials are then projected back into the performance space via loudspeakers and a large video screen located onstage behind the violinist.

Performance at National Sawdust, New York City, June 2016, as part of the New York Philharmonic Biennial and New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival.

Photo by Michael Palma, 2018.

Photo by Michael Palma, 2018.

Autopoiesis has been performed on the following occasions:

  • Diffrazioni Multimedia Festival, Le Murate, Florence, Italy, 2019.

  • Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling, New York City, July 2018.  Performance included workshop with attendees.

  • New York Philharmonic Biennial/NYCEMF, National Sawdust, New York City, June 2016.

  • University of Bern, Switzerland, Swiss Study Foundation 25th Anniversary Celebration, November 2016.

  • Opening night of SIGGRAPH, CalIT2 Auditorium, San Diego, California, August 2007.

  • Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts, Ted Mann Concert Hall, Minneapolis, February 2006.

  • International Computer Music Conference, L'Auditori, Barcelona, Spain, September, 2005.

  • Santa Fe International Festival of Electronic Music, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2005.

  • Re:NEW Frontiers in Creativity, part of Columbia University's 250th Anniversary celebration events, Low Library, Columbia University, New York, September, 2004.

  • ThreeTwo Festival, Merce Cunningham Dance Studio, New York, New York, December 2003.

  • Listening in the Sound Kitchen festival, Taplin Auditorium, Princeton University, November 2003.


Autopoiesis is the first part of the trilogy Autopoiesis / Mimesis (2007) / Catharsis (2008), inspired by early philosophical questions on the nature of creation, reality and the realm of ideal forms and their representation through art.

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