"viral.signal.detector II" by Felix Römer (Germany)

viral.signal.detector II is a generative acousmatic composition, sonifying the dynamics of a simulated epidemic based on the SIRS-model.  Its title is a biological and informational metaphor: signal detection, a term used in both media-theory and epidemiology, refers to identifying information-bearing patterns, such as those that indicate the early spread of a disease. In the 21st century, the term has acquired a multifaceted profundity: today’s society is not only endangered by the next potential biological epidemic, but also by the epidemic of (mis-)information spreading virally across the internet. In the proposed composition, the listeners become the signal detecors of such epidemic outbreaks.

The composition's basis is a particle system, where each particle is representing an individual in a society, with red representing „infected“, green „immune“ and black „susceptible for infection“. Based on the individuals' probability of infection, recovery and waning immunity, beautiful patterns emerge, which are (a) projected visually into the space and (b) manipulating / spatializing sound. In the first iteration of the project, the three probability-parameters were being controlled in real-time by the composer via a MIDI-controller. 

The project’s first iteration was premiered in the context of the 3D-Audio Art Lab at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse 2025 in a concertante version featuring an array of 54 loudspeakers. The project's second iteration, featured at the 2025 IRCAM Forum Workshops in Taipei, comes as an installation setup for 8 speakers. Here, the epidemic evolving constantly, without a specified beginning or ending. The audience are invited to participate: their position and movement in the space will be analysed and used to determine how the pandemic unfolds, both visually and sonically.

More information on the project can be found here: https://www.felix-roemer.com/viral

More information on the SIRS-model can be found here: https://www.complexity-explorables.org/explorables/critical-hexsirsize/