Immersive Review Rundown: Art To Lift You Up

2025 hasn’t exactly gently slipped in the side door, and the vibes have been off at best for weeks now. We won’t talk about the vibes at worst. Too many of us are living that.

Which makes me happy to share with you these three reviews. Are they incredulous raves? No. Thank goodness. They are sober, and happy, looks at three very different experiences that are worth checking out if you find yourself near them and are looking to be transported for a while into a different somatic space entirely.

Which is what immersive is for.

Let’s get to it.

NoPro is 100% reader & listener supported. Join our Patreon campaign to secure & expand our coverage of Everything Immersive! Get the NoPro Newsletter and access to our Discord when you do. You can also GIFT memberships.

Want more? Check out our most recent edition and our REVIEWS section.

Check out our How To Get Covered By NoPro guide to submit your events & experiences for review.

Want to get listed in our newsletter?
Submit a listing to Everything Immersive.

Chromasonic Field — Chromasonic
$33.90 and up; Los Angeles; Through February 15

Somewhere in the Arts District of Los Angeles is a curiosity of light and sound, providing refuge from the outside world. In a large, darkened warehouse, a series of telephone booth-like pods, arranged neatly in a grid, invite viewers to enter, and sit quietly or lie down, and witness a display of coordinated lights and sound. And if you are hesitant to join in? Kind docents quickly offer a cushion. They helpfully instruct viewers to stay for at least one cycle of the show, if not longer. I spy benches scattered against the exterior of the exhibit, for those who wish for a more panoramic view of the installation.

The walls of each “pod” (I count 21 of them) are made of an opaque material, causing them to become scrims in the ever changing light. All around me I see the silhouettes of the other guests. They are peaceful apparitions, wandering the exhibit in awe, like I am. The atmosphere is akin to a museum: most folks keep to themselves and converse only in hushed whispers. Some of my fellow ghosts sit on the floor, in lotus position, and point their phones upwards, to attempt to document the colors. It’s beautiful.

NoPro readers may have already tried Chromasonic’s other permanent installation Satellite One, located in Venice. Where Satellite One places six viewers sitting in a circle on the floor, all pointed outward, making it more of a personal experience, Chromasonic Field is much grander, a large scale installation to explore, one where attendees can see one another.

Maybe it’s trite to say that Chromasonic Field can help someone see sound or hear colors. Maybe it’s cliched to talk about how I’ve never experienced synesthesia but Chromasonic Field is the closest I’ll get to ever experiencing it. The lightstrips and scrims and subwoofers work together to create something bigger than the sum of its parts. I can feel the vibrations in my bones as I sit next to my husband on the ground. Sometimes the colors get so saturated I have to close my eyes, but even with them closed, I swear I can still see them through my eyelids: the reds, the blues, the purples.

Get No Proscenium’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

SubscribeSubscribe

These stimuli are so powerful, so all-encompassing, that other thoughts get muffled in the background until they cease to exist. My usually incessant monkey brain finally quiets. I soon lose total track of time. There is only light and sound and the feeling of the cushion against the nape of my neck and — for the 60 minutes or so — the sensation of relief.

— Kathryn Yu, Senior LA Reviewer & Exec. Editor Emeritus

In Waves Tour — Jamie XX
Price varies; on tour though June 2025

One of the challenges of EDM concerts stems from the fundamental differences between club spaces and concert spaces. The energy of a night club’s dance floor revolves around the revelers moving and undulating to the pulsating beat and strobing lights around them. Compare that with a concert by a superstar DJ, where the production’s physical structure commands the focus of all attendees creating a presentational environment of odd detachment. On his “In Waves” tour, British DJ Jamie XX has created a production that acknowledges the club origins of EDM and places the focus for all attendees entirely on the dance floor making it a vitally immersive experience.

Upon entering the venue, one could not help but notice lighting trussing hung low and transverse over the audience dance floor. Once Jamie XX’s set begins, the first half relies entirely on lighting effects, lighting the crowd and the air above them. As the lighting rigs go so far out over the spectators, these effects envelop all comers, almost to the point where you don’t care that you can barely see Jamie XX himself. About halfway through his set, a video wall comes to life, but instead of prerecorded content, or closeups of Jamie XX, all the video walls show are multiple angles of the crowd on the dance floor, with constant cuts reminding us that we are at a party, and whomever is making the music matters less than all of us together… Having a fantastic party.

With their now legendary immersive 2014 concerts at the Manchester International Festival and Park Avenue Armory, The XX showed the world how to make an immersive rock concert. By investigating various tropes about space and the dynamic between audience and musicians they created an indelible experience that will exist in the annals of the medium of immersive performance. With his “In Waves” tour, Jamie XX has taken that torch and figured out how to bring an immersive experience to all corners of the world. If you’re lucky enough to catch a date… Get sweaty and don’t pay attention to the DJ!

Martin Gimenez — Reviewer at Large

Superplastic’s: DOPEAMEME — Superplastic$35; Las Vegas; Ongoing

Social media has rewired our minds. All of the social media platforms are built to trigger a release of the pleasure hormone dopamine so much that our brains are addicted to any stimulus that will generate a release of that sweet substance. Some feel that we should take this addiction seriously, while others feel that we should let it ride and drive our existence. This statement that we all know all too well forms the basis for Superplastic’s immersive aperitif Dopeameme, now open at Las Vegas’s immersive complex, AREA15.

Placed prominently near the entrance of AREA15, Superplastic’s Dopeameme Institute for Pleasure Research (D.I.P.R.) draws in “test subjects” to analyze and hopefully break from their dopamine addictions. Through a series of three “tests” with a media infused setup and clever coda, we explore other ways that people can get a dopamine release that do not rely on social media, generally through some form of physical activity. Guiding us through all of these are members of Superplastic’s cadre of animated characters, bringing mischief and goading you through the trippy, physical, and generally fun experiments. Before you know it, you’ve completed all of the tests, and are back in the Superplastic gift shop where you began.

Earlier in this review, I called Superplastic: Dopeameme an aperitif, is it fun? Certainly… with the caveat that this is best experienced with a group of friends so you can compete against each other in the various experiments. Is it worth a special trip to Area 15 to experience? Not necessarily. The entire experience comes in around half an hour, and while the visual design elements are generally vibrant and on point, the audio, especially in the opening room which explains the narrative, lacks in volume causing the story to suffer. With the impending opening of Universal Horror Unleashed, we are entering an exciting year for AREA15, and Superplastic: Dopeameme, while not a headline attraction, represents another strong addition in this burgeoning Mecca of immersive experiences.

Martin Gimenez — Las Vegas Reviewer

Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, home of NoPro’s show listings.

NoPro is a labor of love made possible by our generous Patreon backers. Join them today and get access to our Newsletter and Discord! You can also GIFT memberships.

In addition to the No Proscenium website and our podcast, and you can find NoPro on Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and in the Facebook community also named Everything Immersive.