The Experientialists

Theater is dead, long live theater—especially when it’s immersive, unpredictable, and may involve an actor handing you a cryptic note before vanishing into the night.?BATED BREATH THEATRE COMPANY, known for making audiences question whether they are spectators or unwitting participants in a psychological experiment, has secured a Midtown venue where political theater, devising sessions, and avant-garde conversations will bloom like an especially intense performance of Waiting for Godot.? Thanks to the amazing Anita Durst and all the stagehands at Chashama, this space will host everything from politically charged flash performances to deep artistic discussions about why actors must hold unsettling eye contact at all times—making this the perfect place for anyone who thinks theater should be equal parts art and psychological experiment. So if you thought the most dramatic thing happening near Grand Central was a commuter fighting a pigeon for their bagel,?rest assured there is now a creative dojo where actors can hone their ability to dissolve the line between art and real life—ensuring that every New Yorker will, at some point, accidentally become part of a play. https://lnkd.in/gxKqCt_z

David Byrne, still refusing retirement at age 72, has decided the only thing left to conquer is your actual brain, choosing River North to stage his latest experiment in neurological theatrics. "Theater of the Mind" plans to entertain 100,000 Chicagoans to an immersive encounter with their own cerebral misfirings this fall. Attendees can expect to leave the Reid Murdoch Center either thoroughly enlightened or blissfully confused—likely both at once. Friedman Properties anticipates that this surreal spectacle will inject exactly $11.4 million worth of artsy vibes into the Chicago economy, give or take a penny. In 2022, we experienced the Denver production presented by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The only side effects we experienced were an unearned sense of intellectual superiority, sudden urges to quote Talking Heads lyrics, and the temporary superpower of making a perfectly good Syrah taste like liquid Skittles. If you're craving more delightfully disorienting dives into Byrne’s brainy antics, give your ears the treat they deserve by checking out Radiolab’s mind-bending episode on the show: https://lnkd.in/emRmEx-D

For those who enjoy their art served with a side of quantum mechanics and mild vertigo, the High Museum of Art presents data-verse, a three-part digital epic by Ryoji Ikeda Studio. Visitors will be submerged in a world of flickering data streams, hypnotic electronic scores, and projections so vast they make your dual-monitor setup look like a Fisher-Price toy.?Spanning three monumental installations, data-verse offers the rare opportunity to feel simultaneously awestruck and like you’ve accidentally wandered into a sentient computer’s dream journal. And, hey, after you've been swallowed whole by an algorithm, contemplate your place in the cosmos, and get to see what happens when an artist and a supercomputer join forces... can we all just agree that math is fun? Scoops up, peeps! “Ryoji Ikeda: data-verse” will be presented in the Cousins Family Special Exhibition Galleries on the Second Level of the High Museum of Art’s Wieland Pavilion from March 7 through August 10, 2025.?Get details and purchase tickets here: https://lnkd.in/g8MDzGXm

Brace yourselves, art lovers and casual Instagram posers alike—Frameless is back, and this time, they’ve Frankensteined a bunch of classic paintings into an immersive spectacle so grand it might finally answer the age-old question: “What if Odilon Redon had access to VR?” Opening March 28, 2025, this latest spectacle promises to push the limits of surrealist immersion, or at the very least, make you question whether you accidentally wandered into a high-budget hallucination sponsored by Cinesite.

The line between art and entertainment is dissolving, and Roberto Fantauzzi, Lux Entertainment, and the Balloon Museum are at the center of it—because, of course, if history has taught us anything, it’s that serious artistic movements often involve things that float. Warhol’s Silver Clouds started as an act of rebellion against the canvas, and now, decades later, we find ourselves in a world where inflatables aren’t just a medium, they’re a language—one that speaks in joy, scale, and the undeniable human urge to touch things we’re probably not supposed to. The Experientialists have been working with Lux, the creators of the Balloon Museum, for some time now, and honestly, we're still not sure if they’re leading a groundbreaking art movement or just seeing how many people will gleefully launch themselves into a giant inflatable sculpture without asking any follow-up questions. Either way, we respect it. The real disruption here isn’t just that the art is filled with air—it’s that it’s accessible. High art has spent centuries hiding in museums, demanding whispered admiration and the ability to pretend you understand 17th-century Dutch brushwork. At its most experimental, you might get an installation in a modern art institution (or a fancy wine tasting art a gallery) where you’re allowed to walk around it instead of just looking at it. The Balloon Museum laughs at that, hands you something enormous and air-filled, and says, "Go on. Touch it. Run through it. Bounce off it. See what happens." And in that moment, the whole thing shifts—art isn’t something you passively admire from a safe, polite distance. It’s something you step inside, interact with, push against, and then—without realizing it—you’re running, bouncing, and grinning, just like all the other children (of all ages) around you. Which, when you think about it, might have been the point of "art" all along.

In an effort to make people think deeply about science, medicine, and human progress, Dash.Studio's "Reflections" takes a more-is-more approach, offering four immersive light and sound experiences, a video series, and an interactive pharmacy that reacts to your presence like a very enthusiastic mood ring. The installation features contributions from Atlanta artists, ensuring that alongside profound medical revelations, you’ll also contemplate why light therapy isn’t covered by insurance. If you’ve ever wanted to explore the intersection of public health and a really fancy screen saver, congratulations, your time has come. And, as always, Ponce City Market, Michael Phillips, and the entire Jamestown crew continue to set the bar for experiential arts, not just making space for these kinds of installations but actively curating a landscape where creativity thrives and surprises at every turn. Scoops up, peep! "Reflections" is exhibiting from February 15 through March 31, 2025 at The Yard at Ponce City Market. Lowkey check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gfX7dJnB

Dash.Studio's "REFLECTIONS" at Ponce City Market looks to be a vibrant fusion of art, storytelling, and wellness, where Dash Studio has crafted an immersive experience that doesn’t just captivate—it aims to heal. And, as always, Ponce City Market and Michael Phillips and the entire Jamestown crew continue to set the bar for experiential arts, not just making space for these kinds of installations but actively curating a landscape where creativity thrives and surprises at every turn.

Absolutely thrilled to see this merry band of experiential rebels getting back together again—like a heist movie where the only thing we’re stealing is the audience’s passivity. Louis Alfieri, Heather Doggett, and Daniel Kerscher? That’s an unfair amount of brain in one panel. I cannot wait to see this panel. If you are in London, VOTE for #7 and prepare to have your minds expanded, your paradigms shifted, and possibly your worldview irreversibly altered. If co-creation is the future, this is the group that will make sure we don’t fumble it like a bad sequel.

Absolutely thrilled to see this merry band of experiential rebels getting back together again—like a heist movie where the only thing we’re stealing is the audience’s passivity. Louis Alfieri, Heather Doggett, and Daniel Kerscher? That’s an unfair amount of brain in one panel. Last year in Brooklyn, The Experientialists had the distinct privilege of throwing a few conceptual Molotov cocktails into the conversation, and now look at what’s happened—these brilliant minds have gone and set the whole discourse ablaze (in a good way, not in a "we need a fire marshal" way). I cannot wait to see this panel. If you are in London, VOTE for #7 and prepare to have your minds expanded, your paradigms shifted, and possibly your worldview irreversibly altered. If co-creation is the future, this is the group that will make sure we don’t fumble it like a bad sequel.

In a world where banana duct-taping is high art and a room full of chairs can make you cry, this list painstakingly ranks the 100 best works of the 21st century so far—because, as you already knew, taste is measurable. From an artist selling their own Blackness on eBay to a video of a woman aggressively making out with a museum wall, this ranking covers the finest examples of contemporary genius (or possibly just very elaborate dares). Spanning across a video about time, a painting that hates you back, illegally sourced bodily fluids sugar sphinxes, mirrored riot shields, and a desk that doubles as an indictment of the U.S. prison system, this list proves that art isn’t dead—it just has a very weird sense of humor. Whether it’s interactive, invasive, or just straight-up uncomfortable, these pieces remind us that art is about asking questions—mainly, "Who signed off on this?" It’s art at its most powerful, unsettling, and, at times, downright absurd—because nothing says “21st-century creativity” like using Amazon Prime to ship your own father’s ashes in diamond form. https://lnkd.in/en7Ba_rf