Sennheiser shapes the future of audio at Art Basel
Published: ASIA
HONG KONG: Sennheiser has partnered with Art Basel under the banner ‘Shape the Future of Audio’ in the first in a series of planned events. Visitors to Sennheiser’s Future Sound Cube were treated to a surround audio experienced powered by Ambeo, Sennheiser's 3D immersive audio technology, and given the chance to listen to the manufacturer’s new HE 1 headphones, successor to the Orpheus HE90, which are expected to retail for around US$50,000.
‘The vision for Shape the Future of Audio is in our company's DNA; it is our mission,’ said Daniel Sennheiser, co-CEO of Sennheiser. ‘Our culture of innovation has resulted in iconic, era-defining products. The launch of the Sennheiser HE 1 last year is the purest distillation of our knowledge and passion for the ultimate sound. This is our art. And like the greatest art, it places you in a unique space where emotion and inspiration are possible – it can't be easily explained, but has to be experienced and felt.’
Sennheiser set a high bench mark with the limited-edition Orpheus headphones, launched in 1991. Its successor, the HE 1, is an electrostatic headphone featuring eight vacuum tubes that rise up from a block of Carrara marble, gold-vaporised ceramic transducers, silver-plated OFC cables and ear cups precision-machined from solid aluminium with handmade leather ear pads.
The Future Sound Cube at Art Basel also displayed video installations by several artists that Sennheiser has partnered with in recent years, including Nigel Stanford and Nik Nowak. These displays were enhanced by the 9.1 Ambeo speaker installation. ‘Ambeo offers a new dimension to audio, transforming sound in space,’ said co-CEO Dr Andreas Sennheiser. ‘Art Basel is the perfect stage for this unique sensation; just as walking into a gallery creates a sense of immersion into art, Ambeo lets you inhabit a spatial audio experience.’
The jury at each Art Basel show will handpick an artist who will be given support to create sound installation projects with Sennheiser audio equipment. These will be displayed on the outer surface of Future Sound Cubes at forthcoming events. The works will also have a global platform on a dedicated Sennheiser website due to launch at sennheiser.com/shapethefutureofaudio.
‘I am delighted that Sennheiser will partner with Art Basel to support artists by giving them advanced possibilities for creating audio work,’ said Marc Spiegler, Art Basel's global director. ‘It will be exciting to watch their future experiments in art and technology.’
The Future Sound Cube can also be seen beyond Art Basel's shows in Hong Kong, Basel and Miami Beach at global events including the Frankfurt Prolight and Sound and Berlin High End and IFA shows.