What is
Musicographics?
Musicographics is an interdisciplinary research project created by architect, pianist, and composer Murat Ali Cengiz. The project explores the universal presence of patterns and their translation into music. As human beings, we are attuned to recognize patterns, whether in nature, language, design, poetry, or architecture, and these structures help us make sense of the world. Musicographics investigates how such patterns, simple or complex, can be transformed graphics and later into sound.
Mission
Musicographics seeks to reveal the hidden connections between different disciplines—architecture, music, and the visual arts—through the exploration of patterns. By using graphical music notation (or musicographics), the project translates visual and spatial structures into sound.
The mission is to experiment with how visual patterns, which exist in space, can be reimagined as musical patterns, which unfold in time. This approach extends to buildings, cityscapes, paintings, poems, and languages, each offering unique temporal insights. Musicographics also engages in educational practices, such as workshops with architecture students, where timelines of their own building designs were transformed into music and performed in concert.
Vision
Musicographics envisions a world where the boundaries between disciplines dissolve, allowing music to become a bridge between architecture, design, and human experience. Inspired by George Stiny’s shape grammars, Benoît Mandelbrot’s fractals, M.C. Escher’s transformative imagery, and Wassily Kandinsky’s Bauhaus explorations, the project embraces the idea that “bottomless wonders spring from simple rules, which are repeated without end.”
By uncovering the temporal dimension of patterns, how people move, interact, and live through time, Musicographics aspires to create new artistic expressions that highlight the interconnectedness of space, form, and sound.
Murat Ali
Cengiz
Creator of Musicographics. Musician and architect, the project began with Cengiz’s architectural background, where he sought to convert architectural design patterns into musical form. You can learn more about Cengiz at his personal website:
Erdogan Cem
Evin
Software developer and guitarist/musician. He is the developer of the Musicographics software. You can learn more about Evin at his personal website:
Johannes
Fend
Johannes Fend is a Bass player that speaks with a unique voice on the instrument. Having studied Jazz and classical music he is a versatile musician and currently very active in the European music scene.
Giuseppe
Doronzo
Giuseppe Doronzo is an Italian award-winning baritone saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist living in Amsterdam.
Joost
Buis
Joost Buis is an improvising musician playing trombone and lap steel guitar. He is also a composer and arranger.
He has been part of the Amsterdam jazz- and improvised music scene since 1984 playing with many groups and projects
Adnan
Dura
Adnan Dura is a distinguished composer, saxophonist and artistic music director based in Rotterdam. Originally from Marmaris, he has focus on musical theater, dance, and orchestral productions.
