A performative talk where sound alone becomes the stage, guiding the audience through an unseen universe.
MOTION GRAPHICS Uli Streckenbach // PHOTOS Jasmina Tomic, Gilberto Tadday, TED // YEAR 2024
At TED2024, marking the conference’s 40th anniversary, we presented a talk experienced entirely through sound. With eyes closed, the audience was immersed in a surround environment — the first ever used on the TED stage — to explore how listening can transform perception.
Through composed soundscapes, field recordings, and data-driven music, the performance revealed how sound communicates ideas, evokes emotion, and shapes imagination beyond the visual.
Using spatial composition, we guided the audience through a sensory journey that demonstrated sound’s capacity to communicate complex ideas — reminding us that to listen is to understand (see our article The Role of Sound).