What is JUST SCREAM! (justscream.baby)?

JUST SCREAM! is a phone-based art project that collected and published recordings of people screaming. Callers dialed in, waited for a beep, screamed, and hung up. The original project stopped accepting new recordings on January 21, 2021, but the archive of past screams is still available to listen to, and the site says new ways to scream are coming.

How it worked

The process had three steps:

1. Call — Between October 2020 and January 2021, callers from around the world left over 150,000 recordings.
2. Scream — People screamed for joy, rage, frustration, loneliness, and everything else worth screaming about.
3. Listen — Recording is closed for now, but the collected screams can still be heard on the site.

Can you still call and scream?

No. The original Just Scream project closed on January 21, 2021. The site states that new ways to scream are coming soon, but as of the available information, there is no active phone line for leaving a scream.

What you can still do is listen to the archive of recordings submitted by hundreds of thousands of callers.

Finding your own screams

If you called during the project window and want a link to your own recordings, email [email protected] with your phone number. The site notes that your phone number is visible when you call but will never be shared with anyone; the Privacy Policy has more detail.

Why people called

The site's own framing is simple: to scream. Reasons listed include being unhappy, terrified, frustrated, or elated — all treated as perfectly good reasons to record yourself screaming. It even encourages doing this in public, with the caveat of perhaps not in a crowded theater.

Who made it

JUST SCREAM! was created by Chris Gollmar, described as a teacher, occasional artist, and generally rather quiet person.

Practical details

For anything beyond finding your own screams, the site points to its Terms of Service, development notes, and open source credits.