WTOP is bracing for callers reporting a giant spaceship landing over Southeast D.C., but this isn’t “War of the Worlds” — it’s The Fluffy Cloud traveling art and sound experience.
“Imagine this structure that looks like a UFO about three stories tall and wide,” founder Jorge Perdomo told WTOP. “This giant ellipsoid oval on four legs is packed with 60,000 watts of speakers and 33,000 LEDs [with] fractal, psychedelic patterns acoustically synced to the music, all behind this fluffy exterior that really does look like a real cloud.”
Tickets go on sale Tuesday for the event Oct. 8 at Gateway DC on Martin Luther King Jr Ave. Not only is it a wild light show; it’s a unique EDM concert with global DJs spinning “melodic techno, progressive, indie dance and dark disco,” along with food, drinks and games.
“It’s not just what you see; it’s what you feel,” Perdomo said. “When you’re standing directly underneath this thing and you’re getting hit by overhead subwoofers … it’s like infrasound. … It’s vibrating the hair on your arm. … You could call it an electronic music concert in some way, but I feel like that doesn’t do justice to the experience.”
The installation premiered at Burning Man in 2019, followed by Art Basel in Miami before the pandemic. In 2021, it reemerged in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Austin and San Francisco. It will also hit New York City before visiting D.C. The goal of the tour is to raise money to produce this experience in the desert again at Burning Man 2023.
“People will see it on the side of the road,” Perdomo said. “This thing is 20,000 pounds of sound, light and craziness. It just really is an engineering project.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
