Kaitlyn - Mesmerize Reflection

Mixed Media Blog Prompt: “Visiting Mesmerize: Living Dreams, Immersive Experience”

I greatly enjoyed our field trip to Mesmerize. I have never been to an immersive experience like that in Austin before, so it was refreshing to be able to physically and sensorily immerse myself in an experience that fits the “keep Austin weird” vibe so well. From an emotional perspective, it appeled to my childlike sense of wonder and awe because it forced me to reflect upon my own dreams, their possible meanings, and how it affects my life when I am awake. I felt like a kid again, running around a playground being fascinated with everything I see because at one point in my life, everything was so new surreal. From an intellectual perspective, visiting Mesmerise caused me to think about the meaning of my own dreams and how science and spirituality can be combined to explain their meanings and role in lives of humans, especially the station where there was a headset and a book recording the findings of the Dream Scientists. The physical props and artwork is what captivated me the most. While sound did help me have a more fulfilling experience at Mesermise, I believe being able to touch everything, see all the artwork and the descriptions of the artwork, and see how ordinary items can be used to create something so impactful and literally mesermising is quite creative and unique.

I believe a lack of smells, destinctive changing sounds or optical illusions (aside from the door-mirror) is preventing me from saying it was one of the best immersive experiences I have had. While I can admit that certain smells can easily irritate some individuals, and a sudden change in music or sound can be jarring, I feel like using them can add to the experience. For, in every experience an individual has, all of their senses are engaged, and the more that are engaged, the more likely that experience will become memorable. I feel like a good balance between having a sound or scent be more notictable, but without having it be too irritating, could really elevate Mesmerise. Additionally, I did not see anything in the experience that discussed about nightmares or made me think of about them, despite nightmares being a type of dream, so I believe including something that touches on nightmares, or even lucid dreeaming, and their meanings/how we interpret them would have been interesting.

Based on our field trip to Mesmerise, I have learned that a lot of hard work and scarifiice can go into build such an impressive immersive expeirence, and one must go through several rounds of maticulous planning, alongside collaborating with individuals, to bring to life what they imagined in their minds into the physical reality. However, comparing my initial interpretation of the experience to the discussion we had with the creators about what they wanted to achieve and how they wanted people to interpretate the experience (what perspective they wanted visitors to see through and emotions they hoped Mesmerize would envoke) I believe us as creators need to view our planning from multiple perpectives and really think ahead on how different people can interpret the experience in different ways. If we want something specific to happen, we need to be flexible and willing to adapt, alongside accepting the fact that not everyone will agree or see our perspectives, and that is okay.

Using the Team Project Slides these are the 3 words and accompanying images I have come up with: Education, Prevention, and Alchemy