inside cercle odyssey: a nomadic, 360-degree concert

Cercle Odyssey Reimagines the live music Concert Experience

For almost a decade, the French collective Cercle has been transforming live electronic music into a cinematic art form, staging performances in awe-inspiring locations such as UNESCO heritage sites and remote natural landscapes. Now, the group takes a bold step forward with Cercle Odyssey, a multisensorial reimagining of the concert experience complete with live DJ sets, immersive projections, and spatial soundscapes concealing within a traveling dome. Launching in 2025, this 360-degree nomadic event series kicks off in Mexico City before heading to Los Angeles and culminating in Paris with a monumental finale. Along the way, it will feature an eclectic mix of international artists, drawing from electronic, classical, and contemporary music scenes that resonate with the nature of human emotion in various layers.

Earlier this year, designboom attended a preview of Cercle Odyssey in Paris, where we witnessed the immersive production and spoke with founder Derek Barbolla about the project’s creative ambitions. ‘It was creatively very interesting for us to invert the process,’ Barbolla said. ‘In the beginning, we were bringing artists into nature. Now, we’re bringing nature to people in the cities.’ That inversion is a technical feat made possible by ongoing experimentations and global voyages, with the new format trading open skies and iconic backdrops for an immense, dome-like canvas, enclosing audiences in a sensorial cocoon of visuals and sound. Curated by director Neels Castillon, the demo offered a rare glimpse into the project’s immersive potential and Barbolla’s reflections on the challenges of filming nature at 30K resolution, collaborating with artists on visual storytelling, and why Odyssey is as much about emotional reconnection as it is about spectacle.

all images courtesy of Cercle

a 360-degree immersive nomad installation

Under the creative direction of Derek Barbolla and the directorial vision of Neels Castillon, Cercle Odyssey takes inspiration from the classic story of Homer’s Odyssey to invert Cercle’s traditional formula of sending artists into remote landscapes. Instead, this new nomadic music experience brings nature — along with its myths, emotions, and otherworldly atmospheres — directly to the audience in these bustling cities.

Speaking about the origins of the concept, Barbolla recalled being drawn back to the epic years after first reading it in school, recognizing in its themes of journeying, adversity, and return, a poetic parallel to Cercle’s evolving ambitions. ‘We wanted not only to showcase nature,’ he explained, ‘but also showcase humans, and their connections and emotions.’ In this intimate new format, the story will follow the challenges of four modern-day Ulysses, woven through sequences of choreography, digital abstraction, and live performance. Their stories further offer moments for emotional resonance amid the adventures — an abstract chance, Barbolla noted, for audiences ‘to refocus on what they’re really feeling.’

Cercle transforsms live electronic music into a cinematic art form

live dj sets within immersive, otherworldly projections

To capture the natural world in this expansive visual language, the Cercle team embarked on a global filming journey. ‘We’ve already filmed in Namibia, French Polynesia, Australia. And we will go to Bolivia, Iceland, Mexico, and France,’ Derek Barbolla shared at the preview. He also explained how the team built custom drones and a camera rig with five lenses equivalent to 30K resolution to get the images to match the monumental scale of the structure. ‘It’s almost like cinema.’ In total, 16 video projectors retro-project visuals onto the domed canvas, with that number set to double at actual tour venues to enhance brightness and depth. According to the team, they’re still refining technical elements like switching the canvas from white to gray for sharper contrast.

In each city it stops at, Cercle Odyssey will host several days of monumental performances within a 2,300-square-meter projection environment. This host structure itself is entirely mobile and adaptable, unlike massive, fixed venues. While allowing the experience to travel globally with ease, this format also makes participation with Cercle Odyssey much more accessible for audiences and smaller artists who may not be able to afford travel or higher production costs. ‘It’s also way more ecological because we only travel with the canvas and we rent everything on site,’ Barbolla added.

a glimpse inside Cercle Odyssey’s Paris dome

artist-led productions in mexico, LA, and paris

Set across three cities, each Cercle Odyssey edition will feature a bespoke program. The experience begins in Mexico City, running from April 23rd–27th with performances by artists such as WhoMadeWho, Mura Masa, The Blaze, and Jungle (DJ Set). Joining them are Ben Böhmer, Rawayana, Judeline, and neoclassical composer Hania Rani. From May 7th–11th, the tour moves to Los Angeles where Moby, playing his only live shows of 2025, will headline alongside Empire of the Sun, who will co-create a unique visual narrative tailored to their set. Additional acts include Paul Kalkbrenner and The Blaze.

Each performance is tailored in collaboration with the artists. Some, Barbolla explained, entrust Cercle entirely with the visual design, while others choose to co-create the experience. ‘Today, Max Richter’s team and sound engineer were here to check out all the possibilities, testing how to spatialize his sound for the 360-degree format,’ he said during our visit. Whether time-coded or improvisational, each performance also adapts to the artist’s practice. Some shows are fully time-coded, while others, particularly DJ sets, allow space for improvisation. ‘That’s a challenge, but it’s also very interesting,’ he added.

designboom steps inside cercle odyssey’s paris dome

Though Paris is the final stop of the tour, scheduled from May 28th to June 1st, it was here that designboom caught a preview of Cercle Odyssey’s grand finale. The closing chapter will bring together past Cercle collaborators and new voices in an expansive, emotionally charged performance, which the team asserts sets this production apart from its previous projects that focused more on concepts such as culture and heritage. Max Richter, celebrated for his emotive blend of classical and electronic music, will open the finale. He will be joined by returning artists Ben Böhmer and Monolink, alongside Bonobo, Yâme, and NTO x Sofiane Pamart.

‘It’s important that the artist has an experience too,’ Barbolla reflected at the Paris preview. Inside the dome, the artists are entirely immersed in the space, surrounded 360 degrees by dynamic visuals projected across the screens along with richly textured soundscapes. ‘We, as, as you’ve seen, put the artist in the center of the room and the music comes first. Everything we create, we created from the music, which is the most important thing for us.’

the 360-degree nomadic event series kicks off in Mexico City