Social Sorting Experiment - The Smartphone Orchestra

With every online action you make, you leave a digital trail behind which when combined with psychological insights creates an incredibly accurate, digital caricature. The Smartphone Orchestra uses the digital trail you create during this experiment – together with the absurd, humor that they are known for – in an interactive performance that puts the participants at center stage. As data is collected through simple, comical exercises and the final revelations are revealed the audience finds themselves making connections with each other and bonding through the absurdity of the experiment. 

The Smartphone Orchestra is an orchestra in which anywhere from 10 to many thousands of smartphones are synchronized to potentially form the biggest orchestra in the world. It is an orchestra in which every participant’s smartphone plays a unique part; an orchestra that can perform anywhere in the world.

Developed by creative director Steye Hallema and Wild Vreemd, The Smartphone Orchestra enables people to experience being together in a completely new way: imagine shimmering musical sound fields in parks on hot summer nights, mass choreographies at festivals, unprecedented audience participation in theater shows, and spontaneous smart mobs at parties or demonstrations. The technology opens up numerous possibilities to tell stories or share experiences with mass audiences.