GOING BEYOND
Factory Obscura collective reveals new attraction
Standing under a towering moon creature, Cassie Stover recalls the magic of the past year and anticipates the enchantment to come.
“The first time it was an experiment, and this time, it’s like, ‘OK, we can do this, but let’s make it better the next time,’” said Stover, a member of the Oklahoma City artist collective Factory Obscura.
“I like the idea of people having choices and which door to pick and what’s going to be revealed. It will be interesting to see what people will gravitate to.”
Seven months after Factory Obscura’s initial immersive art experience closed following a successful three-month run that drew an astounding 20,000 visitors to the now-shuttered Current Studio, the art collective is unveiling its sprawling sophomore project, “Beyond.”
“Since ‘Shift,’ we have added artists to our team, so there are new artists who contributing to this experience in addition to those who participated last time. We have a bigger team, which means more and bigger ideas,” said Kelsey Karper, co-founder of Factory Obscura and director of logistical creativity for “Beyond.”
“It really is a whole new experience. People who came to ‘Shift,’ you will certainly see some things that may be similar because we have the same artists on the team, so you can see kind of their style re-emerging. But it is a whole different environment, a whole different world that we’re creating.”
Beyond the veil
The fresh coat of white paint notwithstanding, the unassuming building near the Oklahoma River at 1522 S Robinson doesn’t seem from the outside like it should house an artistic endeavor exploring the mysteries of the universe. Only a series of murals painted on the adjacent fence — images of hovering bees, swirling cosmos and hypnotic stripes — offer a hint of the wonders within.
Loosely modeled on artsy attractions like Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, Factory Obscura’s “Beyond” opens to the public Saturday. Karper said it’s no coincidence that the opening is slated for the autumnal equinox, a time of year when the “veil between worlds grows thin” according to many legends and lore.
“There are a lot of traditions throughout history around that idea that celebrate harvest and fall equinox and All Hallows Eve . ... We wanted to take some of a little bit of each of those things and combine them into an experience that really is about exploring what lies beyond that veil, or what lies beyond our understanding of the universe,” she said. “Rather than create something that is scary or spooky, which is more typical of this time of year, we wanted to create something that would be more about provoking wonder and curiosity.”
Choose your own adventure
Adorned with crystals, mother of pearl pieces and tiny mirrors, the moon sparkled in Lawrence Naff’s hands.
“Once it’s done, it’ll be stunning,” the Oklahoma City artist promised during a work day last week inside “Beyond.”
Best known for creating jewelry intricately encrusted with gemstones, Naff said the threefoot crescent moon is one of the biggest pieces he’s ever created.
“It’s been fun. It’s the same (process) as always, just longer, because I go one by one, one jewel at a time,” he said. “It gets
me out of my comfort zone to go larger.”
Naff isn’t alone in taking on a larger project with “Beyond.” Factory Obscura is building its new immersive art experience in a 3,000-square-foot space in a vacant building that last housed an indoor skate park. That’s more than twice the size of the 1,200-square-foot space where the collective built its first “Shift,” Karper said, and the artists are using the extra room to turn “Beyond” into a “Choose Your Own Adventure” story brought to vivid life.
“Within ‘Beyond’ you actually have four distinct experiences to choose from. There will be four doorways, and you won’t know what lies beyond the door until you open it,” she said. “Each of the pathways is inspired by a Tarot card.”
Naff’s shimmering moon is to be a showpiece of the parlor with its domed ceiling, verdant green walls and elaborate faux “rug” that is actually a floor mural.
“Everyone passes through this space on their way to choose one of four doors,” Karper said, standing in the parlor as the rasping, scraping and clanking of construction echoed around her.
The walls around a tunnel known as The Burrow bloom with elegant flowers along the Countess Path, while a book vortex swirls up one of the foam “rock” walls on the Tower Path. Along with the tall mythical creatures, cratered orbs seem to
almost float off the walls of the Moon Path.
The fourth path, Death, remains the most mysterious: It won’t open until a special ticketed event on Halloween night.
“The Death Card in Tarot is really about change and transformation. It sounds like it’s very ominous and if you get that card it’s a bad thing, but it’s not,” Karper said. “We are not making a haunted house. There’s nothing going to jump out at you. There’s nothing going to scare you. It really is about provoking people to be curious.”
Proof of concept
Erin Latham recalled the feeling of standing on a proverbial precipice last November when Factory Obscura opened the doors of its “Shift” experience.
“Something like 300 people came on the first night. Which at that point was like, ‘Whoa, 300 people just saw something I made.’ And then we hit 20,000, which is insane. That’s more people than have ever looked at my work on my own in my whole life. So, for one experience or inspiration, it was massive,” said Latham, who is the lead artist on the Empress Path.
“With ‘Beyond,’ we were all really excited to get to do something else together, to get to build something else. There’s the pressure of, yeah, we want to hit that mark like ‘Shift’ did with
people’s experiences.”
Charging admission is one big change that Factory Obscura is implementing with “Beyond.” While “Shift” was a free attraction, single admission for one of the paths in “Beyond” is $10. Passes that will grant unlimited entry to all four experiences over the three-month run are $30 for individuals or $60 for a family pass for two adults and three children.
“We knew we wanted to do another temporary project . ... With ‘Shift,’ we proved what it is we want to make — this is the kind of experience we want to make — and also, a lot of people will come to see this,” Karper said. “With ‘Beyond,’ we want to prove those same things again, but also show that not only will they come to see it, but they’re willing to pay an admission price to come see it. So, that’s going to be an important step for us in our proof of concept to be able to go to investors for our permanent home, to say ‘This is the desire in the market.’”
For Stover, the idea of drawing even more people — especially those who would never go to a traditional art show — into a captivating artistic realm makes the hard work worthwhile.
“We didn’t know what to expect the first time around, and now we anticipate that crowd coming back and wanting more. It’s the experiences that people take away, that’s what drives me,” she said.