NYC is always a feast for the eyes and ears. In this edition of Must-See AV, we’re covering the best audiovisual treats in the Big Apple — from high-tech museums to thought-provoking art exhibits!
Must-See AV is our monthly exploration of the best audiovisual attractions around the world. We pick a city and tell you what you have to check out if you’re into all things AV. If you missed it, check out our previous installment where we head to Tokyo!
No matter how many times you visit New York City, you’re guaranteed to see something spectacular. That’s why getting my favorite AV attractions down to only five was nearly as impossible as picking the best slice of pizza. Museums, light shows, and art exhibits are certainly abundant in the “city that never sleeps”, so if it’s AV experiences you’re after, head to these top five AV attractions in NYC.
Artechouse
Experiential art and storytelling creates a perfect space for the latest AV technology. Artechouse is no exception, with their current exhibit, Flashback 5, celebrating their fifth anniversary with five different artists. The mission of Artechouse is simple: “Stimulate interest in the limitless possibilities of creative innovation and to push the boundaries of what is possible.” Over 100 minutes, visitors can travel through a panoply of visual delights, including “celestial tableaus, microscopic systems, speculative futures and the infinite layers of the human experience.” If it sounds like something you have to witness to fully appreciate, check out the video of last year’s exhibit featuring a mash-up with Pantone above.
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House of Sound
This series tends to lean heavily on the visual delights, but audio experiences can be just as powerful. Mcintosh’s House of Sound is the perfect example of a fully immersive audio experience, but it appears pretty humble from the outside. It exists within a townhouse in Manhattan’s Chelsea district, and if I can paint the picture for you: Imagine you got invited to house-sit for a wealthy audiophile. You have the opportunity to play with the most advanced audio technology around while enjoying the modern, sleek aesthetic of the space — until the owners kick you out, of course. If you’re interested in checking it out, you can book a complimentary tour or inquire about renting the space for events. The townhouse has a fully-equipped kitchen, home theater, and outdoor and rooftop spaces for a truly magical experience that’s a treat for the senses.
Video from Spygames.com.
Spygames
For all the kids who pretended to be James Bond on the playground, New York has the perfect experience for you. Spygames is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a fun, immersive experience where you actively compete within a team on physical and mental spy-like activities. What you might not guess is that the games were actually developed by experts from the CIA and Special Ops. So where does the AV part come in? The rooms you compete in are laden with AV tech, from the wall to wall lasers to the illuminated pressure-sensitive floors. There is even a live stream of each room on the spygames website, so be sure to work on your agility before you visit. 😉
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Mercer Labs, Museum of Art and Technology
What do you get when you combine the artist behind a popular Rihanna album cover and a prominent Manhattan real estate developer? It’s not a riddle, but the catalyst for New York’s newest immersive art and tech museum. Mercer Labs, created by business partners Roy Nachum Michael Cayre, opened on Valentine’s Day 2024 and features 15 different experiences. If you bring the kids, make sure to check out “Ball Pond,” which is literally a room with hundreds of black spheres filled with multi-colored lights you can dive in. Another personal favorite is the “Drawing Station” that lets your hand-drawn creations come to life on screen (similar to The Arte Museum on the Las Vegas Strip that we checked out on AVIXA TV!)
American Museum of Natural History
You might assume a natural history museum is filled with dust-covered bones and taxidermy, but New York’s Natural History Museum has several rooms featuring modern tech. First, their current exhibit titled “Invisible Worlds” lets you walk through simulated environments that react to your movements. Travel through rainforests, swim with the jellyfish, or trace the Earth’s orbit from space — all from the museum’s expansive Gilder Center.
The Hayden Planetarium, located in the museum’s Rose Center of Earth and Space, is also an audiovisual wonder. Its state of the art Zeiss Mark IX projector is housed under a 38-foot-tall dome, and is made up of 32 fiber-optic projectors that use 45 computers to run. Fun fact: Neil deGrasse Tyson has been the director of the Hayden Planetarium since 1996, so you can thank him for pushing for the best tech New Yorkers could receive. His motivation? “New Yorkers don’t have that much sky,” Tyson explained, due to the heavy light pollution and haze.
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Bonus pick: Museum of the Moving Image
The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens is probably in the top three museums I’ve ever visited. I’m adding it as a bonus, because while it’s not all about flashy AV tech, it covers the history of film and television in a beautifully cohesive way. It’s housed in one of the thirteen buildings of the former Astoria studio complex (Sesame Street has also been filmed here since 1993!), and if you’re a Broadcast AV nerd I highly recommend checking out the fascinating history of the studio linked above. The MoMI also has my favorite ongoing exhibit, “The Jim Henson Exhibition” which explores the Muppet creator’s career from many angles through almost 300 objects (including 47 puppets!). If you plan a visit, check out the film screening calendar, as you might be able to catch a showing plus a potential q&a with a filmmaker.
(September 12, 2024). AVI Systems. Retrieved from https://xchange.avixa.org/posts/the-latest-from-microsoft-on-ai-s-impact-on-meetings
