Mitochondria

Listen to Mitochondria

There is a theory that mitochondria are evolved from bacteria that at one point found their way into our cells and by now have become essential to our survival. This tendency to connect, to form complex systems out of combinations of simpler systems, is mirrored in the human drive to communicate and to form complex social structures mediated by technologies such as the telephone (and more recently the Internet). All sounds for this piece were constructed out of recorded telephone conversations (both human and machine) and combinations of sine waves of the standard frequencies and timings used for telephone signalling in North America.

(Mitochondria have their own DNA, separate from the DNA found in the cell's nucleus. Unlike your nuclear DNA which comes half from your mother and half from your father, your mitochondrial DNA comes only from your mother. This piece is dedicated to Rita, Aida and all those who came before but whose names I do not know.)