Misfolding
Image by Louise Serpell
“Misfolding” is a public engagement collaboration between the Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre and the Serpell Lab in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex.
The Lab has made some important discoveries about the particular malfunctionings of the brain that lead to dementia, which significantly alter our understanding of the illness. The project employs music and digital arts to make these important developments in brain science and dementia research accessible to the public.
PROJECT TEAM
Professor Nicholas Till – Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre
Frances M Lynch – Artistic Director, electric voice theatre and Minerva Scientifica Women in Music and Science
Professor Louise Serpell – Serpell Lab, School of Life Sciences
Dr Karen Marshall – Serpell Lab, School of Life Sciences
We are all now familiar with the role of viruses in human diseases, and have for some time known about good & bad bacteria. But how many of us know that proteins are also involved in human disease? When certain proteins, known as amyloid proteins, misfold things can go very wrong.
An exploratory workshop with three members/ex-members of the Sussex Music department took place on 1 and 2 June 2021, with a public showing of the outcomes, described as “sketches” for finished pieces, by Kira Ramchaitar-Husbands, Antonia Redding and Shu Yang.
The three pieces were introduced by Frances Lynch’s contribution “Misfolding for Dummies”.
“Folding and Misfolding” by Kira Ramchaitar-Husbands for sampled paper folding sounds and audio-visual electronics
“Virus, Bacteria, Protein” by Antonia Redding for recorded soundscape (Predators as virus, birds for bacteria, mechanical sounds as proteins), my mum’s voice (she is living with dementia), my voice, paper aeroplane and Scrabble
“Hope for ReFolding” by Shu Yang - biochemistry inspired soft-crafts, sound, music, and mini-performance
"Miss Amy-Lloyd Folding” by Frances M Lynch
She was Miss Folding all her life
The proteins in her brain
The blanket ruffled in the cot
The arms not holding her securely
Paper planes and paper games that never flew and never played
The proteins in her brain – Miss Folding
The birthday cake that did not rise
The folding seat that wouldn’t stay
The chairs and tables stacked away
The crash of wood on polished floor
The proteins in her brain – Miss Folding
The crisp pound notes misplaced
No help for rainy days
Umbrellas failed to open
The proteins in her brain – Miss Folding
The ironing board snapped shut on hands that neatly folded clothes
Which somehow came undone
Like proteins in her brain – Miss Folding
Until in later life the paper would not fit
The envelope was blocked
The letters could not sit at peace upon the page
Like proteins in her brain – Miss Folding
The napkins – try and try again –
Were never folded properly
Like deckchairs in a storm
Like proteins in her brain- Miss Folding
White sheets await a final fold
How many others led her here
To lie at peace before her time
As year on year she was Mis-Folding
Proteins in her brain