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The Fragmented Orchestra (a participatory distributed sound environment, installed at 24 locations across the UK)

The Fragmented Orchestra (incorporating the curated live sound event, 24 Fragments) was a participatory sonic environment created through a spiking artificial neuronal network using the rhythmic properties of polychronisation. Researching through art, its creators (John Matthias, Jane Grant and Nick Ryan) aimed to develop a distributed musical instrument within which musical relationships could form and develop through public interaction. It was installed at 24 different fixed geographic locations in the UK between 11 December 2008 and 22 February 2009. At each, a ‘soundbox’ was installed, which transmitted audio data to a server computer in the FACT Gallery (Liverpool). This computer ran an artificial neuronal network which was adapted from Izhikevich’s nonlinear integrate and fire model (2004). The code written for The Fragmented Orchestra was configured into two audio units, one of which contained 24 artificial neurons (a tiny ‘cortex’), each of which was stimulated by a single channel of the incoming audio signals to the server. The other audio unit contained a ‘granulation’ algorithm, which configured the incoming audio into sound grains, which were triggered at the neuronal firing times. At FACT, 24 suspended speakers relayed the neuronally-triggered sounds from each individual site. The audience, weaving their way through the space, was able to both hear the live composition as a whole and listen to each of the sites individually. These were then mixed down to a single channel and sent back to the remote sites where visitors, invited to ‘play’ the instrument, were able to hear the effect of their participation on the overall composition of the piece. The artists also designed an online interface through which listeners could compose with either separate elements or combinations of sites. This research was further disseminated through two documentary films, a conference paper (NIME 2009) and two book chapters (2008 and 2012).