A sophisticated soirée
Sonorous situations

' 91v2.0 91v2.0

The 64 participants will gather in a setting such as a club or lounge, where each will be fitted with two disposable stick-on electrodes which send the electrical signal of their heartbeat to a receiver station. The individual signals picked up in this way will be scanned in real time using an appropriate level of resolution. The status of all 64 heartbeats will be interpreted together as a 64-bit-wide stream of data. The read-out and visualization of this continually varying inscription of a group serves as a distinct description of what is in this case a topographically and temporarily defined social entity. It is used as a control signal to trigger various different musical and optical processes produced by logical operations defined in accordance with this systematic approach within computer programs.

The 64 test subjects are provided with no direct information about what is transpiring. The complex situation of what is anticipated to be the nonlinear feedback of the social entity being monitored with the codes and machines that have been set up manifests itself, however, in the changes undergone by the abstract landscape of music and images generated by the raw data from the heartbeats. Conclusions about potential meanings and significant events can be reached by means of emotional or analytical interpretation of the data that have been gathered, and a visualized decoding of the optical and acoustic displays—if the decision to go ahead with this is made. In the case of a decision against such a reading, there still remains, as an insignificant remnant, the activity itself in the form of a hopefully very pleasant and heartwarming social event, a sophisticated soirée.

A sophisticated soirée is a project by 91v2.0: Erich Berger: technical design, GEM solutions; Eva Dranaz/3007: visual design, graphic director; Jochen Fill/3007: illustrations; jaromil aka Denis Roio: software, Free-J solutions; rantasa: idea, concept, sound design, project director; zeitblom: sound design, project management, sound director; Frank Kaster: lighting; Michael Kuhn: sound technician – Instruments: Michael Strohmann; pure; zeitblom; rantasa; Erich Berger; Gregory Gottlieb – Custom Electronic Equipment: metz elektronik – in cooperation with: ORF/ Musikprotokoll im Steirischen Herbst; Bayerischer Rundfunk/ Hörspiel und Medienkunst; ntermedium 2 – This project could never have been realized without Wolfgang Giegler and start-up assistance from the firm Ideal Communications.