Standing in its own lane between traditional concert experiences and recorded music listening that music fans have come to expect, Undercurrent delivered a new format for musicians to share a story. Guests of the exhibition were immersed in a new creative expression from their favorite musicians that married original music and composition with immersive art, technology and a cause. We collaborated closely with 11 musicians to develop multi-sensory installations around climate causes they are passionate about. The installations included original music, immersive audio, field recordings, creative technology, motion capture, projection mapped video art, machine learning, and more.

Undercurrent began with a vision to drive mindset shifts around critical climate issues by offering fans a new type of music event that brings together musicians, artists, and technologists to create immersive experiences. Unlike a traditional concert or recorded music experience, guests were immersed in new creative expressions from their favourite artists that married their music with visual art, technology and a cause.

After over three years of planning and development, Undercurrent opened its doors in Brooklyn, New York for the inaugural exhibition in September 2021. The immersive audiovisual experience featured over 60,000 square feet of interactive installations by some of today’s most exciting musicians including Bon Iver, Grimes, Jorja Smith, Khruangbin, Miguel, The 1975, Actress, Aluna, Jayda G, Mount Kimbie, and Nosaj Thing. Each installation was designed by the musician to inspire positive impact around the Climate Crisis and drive to one of our climate-focused nonprofit partners: Kiss The Ground, Ocean Conservancy, and Global Forest Generation. Over the course of its run in New York, the exhibit drew thousands of visitors who left inspired to get involved in environmental activism.

We built our platform that empowers artists to inspire action from their audiences; and in the process has created a new format for them to use their music and voice to make space for meaningful conversation and positive impact around critical social and environmental issues. We believe strongly in art’s power to enact social change. Offering this platform to artists is a way to impact audiences and drive conversation in an unexpected, inspiring, and uplifting way. Undercurrent provides artists with the resources and technology to use their sonic and visual storytelling to challenge climate inaction through inspiration and immersive experience.

A few examples — Jorja Smith wanted to focus on the displacement of island communities due to beach rubbish coming from North America. Our collaborative execution aimed to shine a spotlight on the issue, and her installation included hundreds of bottles collected from two beach cleanups, to create a winding maze-like experience which increased in temperature as visitors proceed through the experience. The guests hear original music from Jorja spatialized and layered with voice recordings from her family in the islands speaking of their displacement. Miguel’s installation covered the topic of bleached coral, and the installation features a bleached coral forest, sculpted using recycled plastic, and projection mapped upon when visitors triggered various motion capture cameras attached to spatialized audio monitors playing an original soundscape from Miguel. These are a few examples of the hyper-nuanced and bespoke musical approaches taken to each piece.

During its run in Brooklyn, Undercurrent saw thousands of visitors through the immersive audiovisual physical exhibition, and upwards of 176,000 website & social channel visitors, engaging actively in the programs installations and experiences. A total of 11 new original pieces of music were created with the artists, ranging in format from spatialized audio experiences and generative soundscapes to motion-reactive composition. Through the use of this music in context of the program, Undercurrent drove $30,000 in donations to its core impact partners, and delivered on its mission to drive mindset shift through music. Similarly, the music extended the reach and impact of the Undercurrent program, and throughout its run, the social and impact campaign drove 1.06B earned media impressions, which consisted of premier press articles, and influential changemakers and thought leaders posting positively about the program and the underlying model of art-for-impact.