THE ANS was designed by Eugeny Murzin in the late 1950s; it was the first electric instrument to use photo-optical technology to synthesise pure-tones and is considered by many to be the worlds first polyphonic synthesiser. Inspired by advances in cinematography and composer-Alexander Nicolayevich Scriabin’s attempts at total works of art, Murzin devised a unique method to synthesise a maximum of 720 sine-waves from drawn glass plates.  

In 1895 Santiago Ramón y Cajal’ published several books which mapped, for the first time, the central nervous system in animals and humans. Cajal was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to science. He is thought to be one of the forefathers of modern Neuroscience and his intricate illustrations of neural pathways were important influences also for the Surrealists.

The Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture holds the ANS within a permanaent exhibition of ”Musical Instruments of the World”. The exhibition, laid out in five exhibition rooms (each demarcated by their own coloured background) features instruments from more then 50 countries – ranging from folk instruments to Crystal flutes, aeolian harps, tuning boxes and many instruments (like the ANS) which experiment with non-tempered tunings including harpiscords and accordians. Surrounding these objects and featured throughout the film are historic representations of musicians and musical scenes taken from the museum’s vast art collection.