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Although we're ready to move on from the immersive experience trend, there's something about the new space under Rockefeller Center set to officially open tomorrow, Saturday, November 4, that is just worth savoring.
Hero, as the destination is called, has taken over 12,000-square-feet inside a section of the Manhattan landmark that used to be a post office.
As of tomorrow, the space will become a technological extravaganza home to an experience called "The Liminal."
The premiere exhibition, scheduled to remain on view through December 31, is an (what else?) immersive show of sounds and lights comprised of a number of different installations, each one visually striking yet entirely soothing in its own way.
Not to spoil the fun, but ticketed folks with a flair for social media will be particularly delighted by one of the first installations on display: a tunnel of lights that you can actually walk through. The 11-minute-long piece features different strengths of luminosity paired with eclectic sounds that will quite literally transport you to some quiet place far away from midtown Manhattan. Needless to say: the corridor makes for the ideal Instagram shot and TikTok clip.
Also on deck: a sonic sculpture by Aaron Taylor Kuftner called "Gamelatron Bidadari" that will force you to stare it at for long periods of time while trying to figure out how, exactly, a drum can play itself.
The outstanding sounds that define the experience as a whole come courtesy of BOSE, an official partner in the endeavor that has set up nearly 120 speakers around the warehouse-like room.
Opening an exhibition space that clearly banks on the power of modern technology under Rockefeller Center, a cultural institution that has recently undergone a revamp of sorts but certainly caters to the traditional over the uncommon, is a gamble. Clearly, it was one worth taking.