ART DECK-OUT
Former grocery store to become art-inspired pop-up experience A group of artists and designers are building an art-oriented funhouse to open in August.
The Beaches’ music helped artists turn a Kensington grocery store into an artsy funhouse,
A group of artists and musicians are teaming up to turn a former Kensington Market grocery store into a funhouse featuring an art maze, music venue and more.
Sometime in August, the former Zimmerman’s Fairland store, at 241 Augusta Ave., will be transformed into Fairland Funhouse, an art installation that aspires to look like an “intergalactic hotel.” It will feature themed rooms, with collaborations between local artists and musicians.
The pairings are: the Beaches and Broadbent Sisters; Bad Child with Paul Jackson; Lights worked with Christina Mazzulla & Shanna Van Maurik; Jazz Cartier with Casey Watson; New City and Getso; and Jeff Blackburn working with SonReal.
Created as a collaboration between Mondo Forma, a new creative collective, and Universal Music — which all of the musical artists are signed with — the goal is to create experiential art inspired by the musician’s esthetic.
For example, the Broadbent Sisters — Joy and Rose — are multidisciplinary artists who have teamed up with the Beaches, a young all-female rock ’n’ roll group fronted by Jordan Miller, the lead singer, and Kylie Miller, who plays guitar. This combination of sister acts seemed perfect.
“The organizers approached us and they said, ‘We have the perfect band to pair you with, because they are sisters and fierce, young rock ’n’ roll women,’ ” Joy Broadbent said.
“And we listened to their music and said, ‘Yup,’ ” Rose said.
“This is why I was intrigued and it was go great to work with you guys,” said Jordan Miller, who see this as a chance to stretch beyond music. “This is my first art thing. I’ve done some of the creative direction, and helped direct and collaborating on our music videos, because I think it’s really important to have a level of authenticity with everything that you put out as a musician.”
Inspired by the Beaches song “Gold,” the pairing has come up with the concept of a sulphuric rock quarry, with a peaceful goddess emerging from the rubble completely surrounded by reflective and iridescent walls.
“It will make you feel like you are in a bit of an acid trip,” Joy says.
“Or a seashell. It’s very trippy, so you’ll feel like you are very much in this vortex room,” Rose says.
Other examples of rooms include Jazz Cartier’s junglethemed room, which will feature a 3.5-metre-tall elephant, and SonReal’s room, which has large-scale cut-outs of cowboys and other characters.
“Trippy” is kind of the entire goal for the Fairland Funhouse, according to Jonah Brotman, one of the folks behind the idea and part of Mondo Forma, who also helps run the House of VR on Queen St. W. He’s hoping the current wave of pop art exhibitions — such as the ongoing Banksy exhibit, and Instagramand selfie-inspired pop-ups such as the Live Life Experience put on by American Express — has created an appetite whereby something built completely by local artists can find an audience.
“What we really want to do is create something interactive and immersive, and find a way to take people out of their normal day,” he says.
“It’s been really interesting to see how artists can take the essence of a musician and try to bring that to life in a physical space. It’s not boring art just sitting on a wall. You can touch it. You can interact with it. That’s the new wave of art; a lot of these spaces are trying to capture people’s attention by changing the dynamic of what we call art. That’s what excites us about this creative project.”
Brotman says the crew is inspired by Burning Man art and, in particular, Meow Wolf, an interactive art exhibit in Sante Fe, N.M., which was created by an artists’ collective there and has been acclaimed for its approach to this type of large-scale art installation.
Beyond the art maze, Fairland Funhouse will also have a musical venue for concerts, likely showcasing the featured artists, but the organizers are not yet ready to talk about that programming.
There may also be concerts on the roof to coincide with Pedestrian Sundays.
As well, a new venue called Liquor Donuts, inspired by the 2014 film WolfCop, will have a temporary space in Fairland during this pop-up. It will take over the entire space once this pop-up art experience is completed. The initial focus is the art maze. Tickets at $20 apiece will be sold at fairlandfunhouse.com beginning July 10.
What remains to be seen is how Kensington responds to all of this. It is a tight-knit community that has not reacted well to some previous pop-ups and that particular grocery store site has been contentious in the past. Brotman says he’s not worried.
“We don’t want to be some lame, corporate pop-up. We are the complete opposite of that,” Brotman says. “I can see (the previous controversial popups), but Kensington also has a history of DIY art and that’s what this is.”