Johannes Willi's Chronic Pain Orchestra Turns Suffering into Sound

Swiss artist Johannes Willi (Basel, 1983), co-founder of I Never Read, Art Book Fair Basel, has developed the Chronic Pain Orchestra, a participatory performance project that transforms chronic pain into sound. The project originated during his residency at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University of Zurich and the Pain Clinic of the Swiss Paraplegic Centre in Nottwil, near Lucerne. Willi observed that patients struggle to verbalize their pain, leading him to create anthropomorphic gong sculptures that patients 'speak' through caresses, blows, and scratches. The orchestra has no conductor; it self-organizes without hierarchies, encouraging patients to find a common language through play. Willi emphasizes that he is not primarily interested in music but in creating shared, informal experiences. The project is open source and may be further developed for medical research, though specific plans are unconfirmed. The work was featured in Artribune's Speciale Design 2023 and presented at Via Cesare Correnti 14 in Milan during Milan Design Week.