Cellular Chorus is a work of spatialized aleatoric music using smartphones to bring people physically closer to have an interactive and collective experience with light and sound.

The piece is played by each user visiting Cellular Chorus on their smartphones. In order for the piece to play, users must have “Silent Mode” turned off on their phones. Once on the site, a random sound clip will be ready to be played. Each sound comes with a unique color I have chosen to pair with the sound. In the dark, the room will glow with the colored lights on the screens. Press play to hear a sound. If you want to hear another sound, press the “Next” button. The user has control of the volume through their phone’s normal volume control buttons. As others play the sounds in the space, listen to how they work together. Mix your sounds in and out and think about how they sound with what is happening in the room. Move around the space and think about how to make this composition more interesting to you with the limitations of the piece. You can explore the sounds on the site or let a favorite one loop forever as the others around you change unpredictably. The sounds I made are meant to harmonize. There is no right or wrong way to play them. The intention of this piece is to repurpose your smartphone for deep listening, creative experimentation, and to immerse groups of people in a sound and light environment with face to face interactions.

Concept + sound design by Patricia Wolf
Web design + development by Jaron Heard