Skip to content


Explore the 5Hz project with activities, performances, workshops and discussions that investigate the power of language in human relationships.

Artist Emma Smith presents 5Hz – an interactive exhibition that invites audiences to experience a new human language, designed to bring us closer together.

11.30am – 12.30pm Brain scanning workshop and talk

Join cognitive neuro scientist Nina Kazanina (University of Bristol) to explore how your brain responds to voice, including a live electroencephalographic (brain scanning) demonstration.

1.30pm – 2pm Language Lesson with Emma Smith

Join Emma Smith to hear how the 5Hz language was developed and have a go using it yourself.  Please contact box office to reserve a place.

2.30pm Choral performance by Bristol University Schola Cantorum

Directed by Emma Hornby.

3pm – 4pm Talk with Fred Cummins

Join guest speaker Fred Cummins to explore the relationship between rhythm, speech and language.

4.30pm – 5.30pm Q&A with Emma Smith

Take the opportunity to speak to the artist directly about the exhibition. Emma Smith will be in the gallery during this time and invites visitors to speak with her informally about the exhibition.


5Hz is the result of a collaborative research process with psychologist Laurence White (Plymouth University), cognitive neuroscientist Nina Kazanina, and musicologist Emma Hornby (both University of Bristol). Building on this research, Emma Smith worked with Laurence White to create a language for the role of social bonding.