A selection of Nerve Theory‘s (aka Bernhard Loibner & Tom Sherman) series of short audio works titled H5N1 is part of the exhibition Human+ – the future of the species opening on April 15, 2011 at Science Gallery in Dublin, Ireland. Amonst Nerve Theory and other artists the exhibition features work by Stelac and Eduardo Kac. The exhibition is open for the public until June 24, 2011.
H5N1 was originally produced in 2006 for Kunstradio a regular Sunday evening program on Austria’s Public Radio ORF dedicated to radio art. We used the idea of the evolving, mutating H5N1 virus as a launching pad for a series of statements about the world we live in. In the end the collection consisted of 37 short radio statements featuring Tom Sherman’s voice and text put into motion by my musical intervention (you can listen to the series here, it is also available as podcast here).
Nerve Theory has shadowed the deadly H5N1 virus as it has spread in waves across and throughout the media environment, mutating into an epidemic of concerns so troubling and close to home that we often find ourselves imprisoned in a darkness of fear. In response to this confinement, Nerve Theory suggests that black humor is oftentimes our best defence.
A selection of the H5N1 series was also published on a CD-R released by the Voicespondence label in Canada in 2007.