The New Normal?

Everybody’s percolating on The New Normal, but it remains an abstract notion. As the pandemic rages, this project depicts how humanity is reacting to our uncertain world. Using real-time data sonification and visualisation, it classifies the public expressions of millions of people worldwide, and transforms them into instruments for musical expression.

First, the software harvests all tweets containing the phrase “New Normal—live, as they’re being sent to the cloud. Next, using marketing algorithmic tools, it assesses every single tweet to determine: sentiment (positive or negative), and the tweet’s subjectivity. Finally, it triggers a range of sonic harmonic and percussive elements based on these determinations.

If the tweet is classified as “positive”, the text and the main sphere turn green, and trigger a major chord.
If the tweet is classified as “negative”, the text and main sphere turn red, and trigger a minor chord.
The more “objective” the tweet is labelled, the closer to a perfect platonic sphere the white data cloud will be. It will also modify how open or closed some sounds are.

'The New Normal?' seeks to open a window to our society’s collective response to uncertainty.