My solution was to create a sound collage, unified by a strong narrative.
This narrative is In fact a split narrative, differentiated by the attendees level of participation. The journey of the passive observers will be projected from the house speakers, where the active participants journey will be projected from their mobile device.
I fashioned my narrative off of Jurassic park, well… sort of.
As the piece begins, passive observers find themselves on a train embarking for the Kansas City Zoo. Shortly after their arrival, the train is tragically derailed by a stampede of angry animals, no dinosaurs- just normal zoo animals, causing an explosion. This leaves it’s passengers with no option but to leave the safety of the train and embark on foot.
The active participant’s journey begins already at the zoo, taking in the sights by foot. This second group bares witness to the stampede and runs to assist the passive observers. Both groups try to reconcile the carnage and devastation left in the wake of the train’s explosion, as evident in their separate audio tracks.
Most passive observers have been injured and are forced to remain with the train, while active participants wander around the zoo looking for help. At this point in the journey, another character enters—the train itself (the AI from Analog Drift)—whose own audio personification is interspersed throughout. These often-violent sonic interruptions represent the train’s birth of consciousness, as it struggles to repair itself.
Eventually the train is repaired, and both groups of passengers climb aboard, departing the zoo on a fully conscious train. The end. ….
The steady progression of this narrative can be heard by dynamic changes in the musical content of both passive and active streams.
The following audio excerpt begins just before the stampede, concluding with the trains derailment and explosion.
-Michael