FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A One-of-a-Kind Sound Installation Awaits World Cup Visitors in Kansas City
Kansas City, MO - As Kansas City prepares to welcome the world for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a groundbreaking immersive audio experience created in Kansas City will offer visitors an experience they cannot find anywhere else. The Sound Mandala, an innovative sound installation and listening experience, will return in summer 2026 as a must-see cultural destination for World Cup fans and visitors.
The Sound Mandala is more than a show. It is a unique and immersive auditory experience. Using a custom-built system of more than 100 independent loudspeakers arranged in a geometric matrix, sound moves through space, creating the sensation of motion, depth, and immersion. Listeners do not simply hear sound; they step inside it.
“Mandalas represent wholeness and transformation,” said creator and founder Tom Mardikes. “The Sound Mandala applies that idea to sound, allowing recorded audio to move in ways the human ear has never experienced before. It’s an entirely new way of listening.”
Developed over several years as a research project in Kansas City, the Sound Mandala was first presented at scale during the 2024 KC Fringe Festival, where more than 800 people experienced the installation and described it as profound, emotional, and transformative. Building on that success, the 2026 presentation will expand the system and programming to meet the scale and international audience arriving for the World Cup.
The experience will be presented at the Unicorn Theatre in the Jerome Stage black box theatre in Kansas City’s midtown neighborhood on the new streetcar line. An octagonal structure containing over 100 loudspeakers surrounds the audience, creating an intensely personal and immersive encounter. Two original 50-minute sound-based performance art programs are planned for the 2026 run. Tickets go on sale May 1 through the Unicorn Box Office.
“This is an experience that simply cannot be duplicated at home, in a car, or with headphones,” said Mardikes. “To experience it, you have to be there.”
As part of preparations for 2026, the Sound Mandala Institute is raising funds to expand the system and complete construction in time for the World Cup. Supporters will play a role in positioning Kansas City as a global leader in sound innovation and immersive art.
“The Sound Mandala is a Kansas City–born project that reflects the city’s creativity, ambition, and willingness to imagine what’s next,” said Mardikes. “We’re excited to share it with the world.”
The Sound Mandala Institute, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
For more information, visit www.soundmandala.org.
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