SIMS (SMS Interactive Music System) is an interactive electronic music performance that enabled live audience participation via SMS text messages, long before the rise of smartphone-based interactivity. Developed in 2007–2009 and presented in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, the project emerged from a desire to decentralise musical control and create a participatory system for real-time sound manipulation. SIMS turned the audience into co-performers, challenging the division between artist and spectator.
The performance featured musicians Adrian Klumpus, Abel Cross, Hirofumi Uchino and Kussum Normoyle, playing instruments without acoustic output, their signals routed entirely through a Max/MSP patch for real-time processing. A bespoke software system, developed in collaboration with Ankur Badhwar and Claire Herbert—received incoming SMS messages via Bluetooth using BluePhoneElite. Each message triggered an AppleScript, routed through a Python-based OSC server and Processing interface, which altered specific effect parameters in the Max/MSP patch. Audience members received printed brochures with a list of available commands and a phone number to text, and a live visual display showed the real-time state of the processing chain. The system allowed users to toggle delays, distortions, filters, and other audio effects mid-performance, creating a shifting sonic texture driven by collective input.
SIMS prefigured today’s interest in interactive, audience-driven performance and offered an early model for participatory digital art using accessible tools. By leveraging everyday technologies: SMS, Bluetooth, and DIY scripting, the project made complexity performable and interactivity tangible. Its success despite its pre-smartphone limitations reflects a commitment to hacking together meaningful systems for collaborative sound. SIMS stands as a formative experiment in audience agency, networked composition, and the social dynamics of shared control in electronic music performance.
The project received less than stellar reviews from critics that can be found here.