Zarouhie Abdalian worked on two projects, Functions and Situational Music, during her time as an Exploratorium Artist-in-Residence. Functions is a set of prose scores exploring the social dimensions of the Exploratorium as a public environment, and encourages us to probe what happens when an individual joins with others to become part of a public group and how individuals negotiate group power dynamics.

Situational Music is a concert featuring compositions that influenced the development of Functions. Abdalian worked with a group of Exploratorium visitors to present a selection of seven historical prose scores. The scores were designed for anyone to try and required no special knowledge or abilities, and the result was a creative space where there was no clear delineation between audience and performer.