+PANIC is a digital swarm installation for the Humboldt Forum’s exhibition After Nature. We created an interactive sound environment that responds to visitor movement and changing swarm behaviour.
Our Role Sound concept, Sound Design, Generative Music Engine, Implementation // Client Humboldt Forum Berlin // Contractor schnellebuntebilder // Year 2021
+Panic was created for the inaugural exhibition After Nature at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. The installation presents thousands of digital fish moving across a semi-transparent projection surface, following the classic behavioural principles of swarm movement.
The visual system expands these behavioural rules through an additional condition: panic. As visitors move through the space, the swarm reacts and shifts between cohesion, alignment, separation, and disruption. The installation creates a continuously changing relationship between collective behaviour and individual presence.
We developed an interactive sound environment that follows these behavioural transitions in real time. The sound responds to visitor movement and mirrors changes within the swarm dynamics, creating a continuously evolving sonic layer connected to the movement of the fish simulation. The project combines interactive sound, generative music, and exhibition sound design within a shared audiovisual environment.
Our contribution included the sound concept, sound design, generative music engine, and implementation for the installation at the Humboldt Forum Berlin.
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