Inside The Shed’s cavernous McCourt Space, the lights dimmed and a mysterious soundtrack played. “Your journey starts in five minutes,” a voice taped to about 200 people gathered there on a recent evening.
The curtain opened to reveal a 50-ton suspended sphere glowing in red and orange.
Audiences whispered that the hall, called the Sonic Sphere, resembled a spaceship, Epcot, a disco ball, or even the Death Star. During the approximately 70-minute program of listening to Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians,” some people took pictures and made jokes. Some expected a more spiritual experience.
“I want to let the sound in,” says architect Stephen Ross as he climbs the steps to the front door. “I want to be transported.”
A realization of composer Karlheinz Stockhausen’s modernist dream, Sonic Sphere surrounds the audience with 124 meticulously placed speakers and a string of lights that change color with the music. We aim for a new kind of listening experience.
This summer, Sonic Sphere will host listening sessions for music remixed for spatial sound design, including 2009’s xx debut album. The line-up also includes a playlist by DJs Yaeji and Carl Craig, and a live performance by pianist Igor Levit. Play Morton Feldman’s “Palace of Mali” with the accompaniment of Lirkrit Tiravanija.
shed iteration sonic sphere Overseen by a team that includes Ed Cook, Merjen Lawyers, Nicholas Christie, Chester Chipperfield, and Jessica Rea, the facility is the 11th and largest, measuring approximately 66 feet in diameter and holding approximately 250 people, with a net You can sit or lie in the region.
“This is about a change in consciousness that leaves a memory,” Cook said of the project. “Can people experience touching new realms of consciousness, not in the form of altered states, but in a way that actually leaves a mark?”
Stockhausen devised a spherical concert hall known as the Kugellauditorium, the form of which was built for the 1970 Osaka World Exposition. There the German Pavilion exhibited works written for the Dome, including music by Stockhausen himself. Although it was visited by a large number of music fans, the idea did not spread.
Since 2021, Cook and his team have revived the concept, building Sonic Spheres in France, the UK, Mexico and the US, including Burning Man. The hall got bigger and bigger each time.the first one, in Faye Commune In northeastern France, it was 10 feet in diameter and cost about $1,000.
The New York version uses 1,178 steel stanchions, 3,500 yards of fabric, and 12 structural cables supporting the sphere from the roof. The hall’s opening was delayed for a week due to delays in receiving supplies such as trusses and floorboards. The result was a cost of over $2 million, much of which was funded by technology investors and entrepreneurs, to bring the Sonic Spheres into the air for the first time.
Alex Poots, artistic director of Shed, who worked with Stockhausen in his early career, said Sonic Sphere’s aim was to bring the focus back to sound.
“Lately we’ve been talking about going to concerts, and it’s kind of insane,” he said. “We’re dominated by visuals. We’re bringing music back to the center of the experience here, and it’s really beautiful and important.”
At last week’s “Music for 18 Musicians” audition, the audience had mixed opinions about the hall.
Ryan Mannion, a software engineer in New York City, said he was able to immerse himself in the music. “I found myself just sitting there with my eyes closed and enjoying the music.” However, some found the experience too noisy and too long. “There were some moments of sublime, but they weren’t always like that,” executive coach Sarah Watson said.
Watson’s 9-year-old daughter, Matilda Morton, said the sessions were fun, but that they went too far. “I felt like a secret agent on an alien mothership,” she said. She was “quite overwhelmed by the red lights and loud vibrating noises.”
The Shed’s Sonic Sphere will close on July 30th, but will be back next year. By then, we’ll probably be moving to the West Coast or another part of Europe.
Cook said the agility and accessibility of spheres allows for relatively quick construction and demolition, and he hopes spheres will become more popular.
“People are increasingly coming together and longing to experience something rich and transformative,” Cook said. “We want to give them something magical.”
