Mind Machine, 2012

Single-screen video projection and sound installation with text

In 1999 Leonard Horowitz wrote Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse, which describes the rediscovery of six powerful sound frequencies by Dr Joseph Puleo. These ‘solfeggio frequencies’ were apparently used in ancient Gregorian chants, such as the great hymn to St. John the Baptist, along with others that church authorities say were lost centuries ago. The chants and their special tones were believed to impart tremendous spiritual blessings when sung in harmony during religious masses.

According to Horowitz the six solfeggio frequencies include:

UT 396 Hz – Liberating Guilt and Fear

RE 417 Hz – Undoing Situations and Facilitating Change

MI 528 Hz – Transformation and Miracles (DNA Repair)

FA 639 Hz – Connecting/Relationships

SOL 741 Hz – Awakening Intuition

LA 852 Hz – Returning to Spiritual Order

Today there are those who believe that these ‘ancient solfeggio’, derived from numerology, can elicit a powerful positive response in those who listen to them. In Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse, Horowitz claims that each of the frequencies have specific spiritual and physical healing properties. It is also claimed that they are part of a process that can assist you in creating the possibility of life without stress, illness, and sickness. For example, the frequency assigned to Mi, “transformation and miracles”, 528 Hz, is said to be the exact frequency used by genetic engineers throughout the world to repair DNA.

Mind Machine is an audio-visual installation, featuring a soundtrack composed by the artist from the six solfeggio frequencies, a live video projection and text.

The soundtrack is played through a font containing water, causing the surface of the water to ripple into mandala-like or ‘Chalagni’ patterns, which is filmed from above. The text introduces the ideas set out by Horowitz in Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse, leaving visitors to experience the solfeggio frequencies for themselves and to make up their own minds about the positive effects of being exposed to them. As with all her work, McLachlan does not apply systems of judgment to the work, refraining from ever categorising the experience as ‘fact’ or ‘fiction’, ‘true’ or ‘false’.