'The Fragmented Orchestra', a transdisciplinary artwork by Jane Grant, John Matthias and Nick Ryan (2008-2009), is analysed from the point of view of its material and epistemic conditions of composition. I examine its core device, an artificially reconstructed 'tiny cerebral cortex' from the point of view of its aesthetic expression and from a theoretical point of view. The aim of the article is to show that the aesthetic content of the work arises from the operative conditions of a double interrelation: the combination of heterogeneous forms of knowledge on one side and its material implementation at the level of the artwork on the other. In this regard I inquire into the connections between the operative logic of the artwork and that of particular philosophical concepts, particularly Deleuze and Guattari's anti-oedipal production of subjectivity and Whitehead's idea of beauty in its recent interpretation by Steven Shaviro
