A SONIC immersive experience anyone? An eager audience submitted itself to an intense, unusual musical experiment. Cloaked in darkness, Lopez, an artist from Madrid, went to work on the blindfolded ensemble.

The normal rules of performance were turned on their head - only Lopez could see us.

"Trust me," he said as the performance ignited. This was his space, and we his guests.

Using electronic sound from natural and mechanical sources, at different frequencies and volumes, from a circle of speakers, the artist shaped a soundscape that was unique to every listener.

There was no music in any recognised sense and no lyrics. This was a solo voyage, literally engulfed in the experience - and it felt quite safe.

Starting slowly with what sounded like the wilderness (there was never any way of pinning down any particular effect) the trip picked up speed. There were sudden shifts, as if Lopez sensed the intensity becoming too much. At one point the audience was surrounded by a swarm of bees, and once there could have been a distorted female voice stifled amid a roar of machinery.

The louder elements tested your endurance, and some of the quieter sections dragged. A sudden silence that collided with the wall of noise that served a finale was greeted with gasps and audible relief.

If the applause that followed felt awkward, that was not to Lopez's detriment.

Such was the intensity of the sound it took a while to readjust. This was a thought-provoking experience that will not be quickly forgotten.

Updated: 10:37 Monday, October 18, 2004