Visiting Mesmerize - Madeleine
One of my favorite surprise details at Mesmerize; When I looked into a small window, I didn’t expect to see so much inside!
When visiting Mesmerize, what most captivated me was the creativity and effort invested by a small team to make a polished experience with limited resources. Though this is probably true of most projects, because we are now in the context of creating a similar experience ourselves, I actually paid attention to how things were created- are those LED lights under polyester filling? What tricks let them save time and money? How did they think to use cutouts over lights to get more with less? Even though the exhibit was constrained by space, they used what room they possessed efficiently and created interconnections (transparent bubbles, windows, openings) between them. By maximizing the paths to explore and filling exhibits with details from hidden monsties to poetic text, they expanded the exhibit past its physical boundaries by increasing the number of elements to explore.
Perhaps this is due to the way I interacted with the exhibit (and the lack of time), but I wonder what could have been done to create a more emotional impact from the experience. One question is narrative- the use of exhibit signs (sidenote: I liked the way they used specimen descriptions to tell visitors how to interact with each exhibit while staying in character), redacted info, and a storyline added intrigue to the exhibit, but I didn’t feel completely connected to the experience in the same way I might be invested in a book or movie. It makes me wonder if it’s easier to make an emotional connection when following someone else’s narrative instead of trying to transplant your own identity into a narrative that you know isn’t yours. If that’s the case, I wonder what it takes to create an immersive experience or story where you feel you have actually stepped into a different world.
I wonder also if it is hard to connect because it doesn’t feel real. I loved its beautiful whimsicality, but it still felt like an exhibit rather than a different reality. One reason may be due to space limitations- I would guess that the physical size of a room constrains how we feel while standing in it. Another is the theme- while colorful and fun, it is difficult to feel like I’m in a dream without the same sense of unreasonable wonder and emotion that accompanies it. I found it interesting that the alarm clock was among the group’s favorite items, and I wonder if it is because it fits most closely to the reality we know we’re in. It is a regular object in a regular room, working almost entirely like it is supposed to. But it is just ever so slightly off, and this subtle dissonance in an otherwise familiar context makes it nostalgic yet uncanny, drawing power from a similar method to the dreamcore aesthetic.
I also wonder how music with percussion might have affected the exhibit. While I agree that straying from ambient music would greatly change the experience, the vibrations from the bass in a concert are crucial to immersing the audience in the experience, and I remember the musical light show in Meow Wolf as being one of my favorite rooms.
However, for all the points to ponder, there are so many things that impressed me, and I truly enjoyed the experience and admire the minds and hands that created it.
3 Words
Residuum
“A substance or thing that remains or is left behind.”
“Residuum is weathered rock that is not transported by erosion, contributing in time to the formation of soil. It is distinguished from other types of parent material in that it is composed solely of mineral, not organic, material, and it remains in place rather than being moved by the action of wind, water, or gravity.”
Explanation: save what is left, weather the storm, and build something new
Wistfully
Explanation: of the past and for the future that could be
Breathe
Explanation: just breathe; keep breathing; breathe in aromas; give breath to new life
3 Images
Rainworld fan art: relics, contrast of disaster and beauty, harsh and soft
Telescope through time and space (Craiyon): Giving participants a view into the past and future and across Japan with a new perspective
Toy figure in raincoat: childhood and nostalgia brought into present day, moment of peace, observing the storm