2017Smartphone

A more perfect union

Audience listening drives an evolutionary algorithm — the longer a melody is heard, the more its "genes" survive into later generations.

Participatory real-time composition; performance → installation (web audio)

Research

A more perfect union is an experiment in participatory real-time composing, where the audience chooses the outcome of the work by evaluating the sounds they hear. The longer a person listens to a melody the more likely an aspect of that melody is to persist in future generations. The work is based on an evolutionary algorithm, in which the fittest sound of a group passes on its genes, combines with another fit sound, and creates a new one with the best of both. The piece ends when an emergent sound is found that should hopefully satisfy the audience.

For more details about the work see the paper I presented at Web Audio Conference 2018.

Try it: https://sparkling-sun-445.fly.dev/

This work started as a performance then transformed into an installation. This showing history reflects that history.

Exhibitions

Performances