A temporary installation space in which sound and visuals are controlled by the heartbeat of visitors. 
Inspired by Neal Stephenson.

A sophisticated soirée (or The Social Dimension of Isolation)

In order to supplement the results of the special situation of the bioadapter with data having 
to do with collective feedback processes necessary for an overall interpretation, the situation 
A sophisticated soirée was designed by 91v2.0 with the following arrangement:

The 64 participants  individuals who have registered and indicated their informed consent  will 
gather in a pleasant, familiar setting such as a club or lounge, where each will be fitted with 
two disposable stick-on electrodes which register the electrical signal of their heartbeat and 
send this via a wireless transmitter unit 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 (which exists 
in every social situation and nevertheless is never visible without instruments such as those 
employed in this arrangement) serves, according to this research projects theory and methodology, 
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 under-
gone 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 is still remains, as an insignificant remnant, 
the activity itself in the form of a hopefully very pleasant and heartwarming social event, 
a *sophisticated soirée*.

91v2.0 is:
Erich Berger, Eva Dranaz/3007, Jochen Fill/3007, jaromil aka denis roio, rantasa, zeitblom 

performances and support: 
- 2001 Ars Electronica Festival Linz (A), 
- 2001 Musikprotocoll Steirischer HerbstGraz (A),
- 2002 Berliner Festspiele Maerzmusik Berlin (G) 
- 2002 Intermedium Bavarian Broadcasting Station + ZKM Karlsruhe (G).