At SXSW 2026, PlantWave presented a live performance that redefined the boundaries between music, biology, and technology — positioning plants not as instruments, but as active collaborators in plant music.
The system translates measurable electrical variation in plants into musical output in real time — not by amplifying sound, but by mapping biological signals to musical parameters — a process known as biosonification.
Staged inside Central Presbyterian Church, the showcase unfolded as an immersive, meditative environment shaped by real-time plant data. Using the PlantWave device (see how PlantWave works), subtle electrical fluctuations within living plants were translated into musical signals through biosonification, forming the compositional backbone of the set.
Joe Patitucci, creator of PlantWave, expanded the system with a custom MIDI visualizer, transforming plant activity into evolving geometric projections — making the invisible perceptible in both sound and light.
Nicole Miglis, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Hundred Waters, improvised alongside the plants on piano, voice, and flute. The resulting soundscape blended luminous tones with synth textures and long, reverberating harmonic layers, unfolding as a slow, immersive continuum rather than a fixed composition.
Rooted in real-time responsiveness, the performance moved as a living system — shaped as much by plant-generated signals as by human intuition.
Photos by Roger Ho
Following the main set, Bryan Noll (Lightbath) extended these ideas through modular synthesis and plant biosonification, allowing evolving musical processes to self-organize in real time. His performance emphasized emergence over control, where machine, musician, and plant life operated as a single interdependent system.
During the evening, PlantWave also announced its ongoing support of EarthPercent, the music industry's nature initiative co-founded by Brian Eno. A percentage of PlantWave's global revenues will now support nature protection and restoration efforts, including Indigenous-led conservation.
By placing plants on equal footing with human musicians, PlantWave reframes performance as a shared living system — inviting a reconsideration of authorship, creativity, and our relationship to the natural world.
Experience plant music for yourself → What is plant music?
Full performance video coming soon. In the meantime, explore how this system works in detail in the science behind PlantWave.
