Sound Off® is excited to be a part of The Vivid Unknown, an installation included in this year’s Cannes Film Festival Immersive Competition. Returning for its second year on May 14, the competition celebrates international artists who employ unique sensory experiences to innovate the filmmaking space beyond the two-dimensional cinema screen.

The Vivid Unknown is an AI-driven, immersive installation by John Fitzgerald ​​based on Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 Koyaanisqatsi, a groundbreaking film that portrays a world out of balance, altered by the advance of technology. Set to the music of Philip Glass, Koyaanisqatsi is a cinematic force, featuring a mix of wilderness, concrete scenes, and flickering screens.

The Vivid Unknown expands further on Reggio’s theme, depicting a planet consumed by technology and a new world unfolding. Through the use of generative machine learning, Fitzgerald reimagines Koyaanisqatsi as a living system.

Why Sound Off headphones?

This is the first time that silent disco headphones will be used for The Vivid Unknown installation. 

Since the competition takes place in adjacent rooms within the Carlton Hotel and ambient audio is prohibited, Fitzgerald found Sound Off to be the perfect audio solution as our noise-isolating headphones keep the music in attendees’ ears only within the 100 square-meter installation space. Fitzgerald is especially pleased our headphones are sleek, discreet (while in blackout mode), and easily chargeable for The Vivid Unknown experience. 

 For the installation, composer Benjamin Shirken is using a combination of Max For Live in Ableton and 4D SOUND‘s proprietary software for binaural and spatial audio in headphones. According to Shirken, Sound Off provides the highest quality solution for immersive audio on a large scale (perfectly suited for Fitzgerald’s goal of all participants hearing the same music at the same time while witnessing a vast immersive projection space). 4D SOUND’s software is object-based, allowing the mixer to place sounds in different positions within a virtual 3D space. This space is folded down into stereo, and then to the Sound Off silent disco headphones via RF. 

The interactive dystopian experience unfolds…

Beyond the immersive aspect of silent disco headphones, Fitzgerald’s installation invites the audience to become active participants: The generative machine learning and real-time computer vision respond to their presence and track their engagement.

Moving throughout the space, attendees see their own silhouettes integrated into formerly untouched landscapes as they become part of the narrative: a dystopian world born from humanity intertwined with technology. As AI visuals and soundscapes react to the movement and number of viewers present, an unraveling of chaos emerges.

The technology used in The Vivid Unknown collaborates with participants and learns from them, depicting the potential of global technology, its never-ending morphing, and its effects on our perception of the world.

As far as the future of Sound Off silent disco technology? We’ll continue to bring people together in unique ways, facilitating the innovative visions of artists and event creators, from France to Tanzania to NYC. 

Inspired to create your own immersive experience? Contact us to explore all the silent possibilities.