Review Rundown: The One Where We Get Away For The Weekend (6/22/21)
A SoCal desert escape, live shows in NYC, wizards fighting lizards online, Pop-Up Mag’s Sidewalk Issue. Five Reviews.
If you don’t count our Tribeca coverage (but you should) it’s a quiet week for us. Just five reviews. From around the globe. You know. The usual.
Are you a creator who looks upon these reviews with jealousy? Okay, the positive ones, at least? Then you might want to check out our How To Get Covered By NoPro guide, which we just updated for the first time in ages. There’s even a link to a PR workshop we’re doing in there.
The REVIEW CREW podcast is taking a break this week as we record NoPro’s 300th Podcast Episode, which will drop on FRIDAY.
Need more reviews? Last week’s edition HAS YOUR BACK.
Know Thyself — Jessica Creane/IKantKoan
$75; Caveat, New York City; Ongoing
Having selected a box of philosophical purpose to carry with me, and a wonderfully imaginative overhead-projector-shadow-puppetry-intro to Philosophy 101, we meet our tour guide for the Museum of Philosophical Experiences (MoPE), Betsy. With a calming and patient preschool teacher demeanor, she covers advanced collegiate level philosophical dilemmas and invites the audience to discover more about themselves throughout the course of Know Thyself.
The newly opened “museum” is host to multiple exhibits which we are invited to play with, and to contemplate on. Each philosophical problem is presented as a new game or activity for the audience to take part in, while engaging with other members of the audience, “a play outside to learn within” kind of process. Creator Jessica Creane (performing the role of Betsy) is a master of game design, with each game prompting and probing the audience with a new philosophical dilemma. I am sure the design team enjoy watching us debate and torture ourselves, as much as we do taking part, with every new audience bringing fresh perspective to the exhibits. We touch on ideas developed by Aristotle, Schrödinger, and Foot (of trolley fame) amongst others with hands-on practical experimentation with dry humor sprinkled throughout, having a blast the entire time.
The show features some marvelous materials which aid in the philosophical journey of discovery, with simple mechanics that help to add real meaning to decisions made late in the show (but I think therefore I… will not spoil any further). The “museum” is continuing to shift and develop, with new exhibits being introduced over time, so you can never step in the same museum twice, so I particularly appreciated the fully functioning gift shop at the end of the tour, which allows participants to purchase take home editions of the exhibits previously experienced.
In every sense of the word this is a truly clever piece of interactive theatre, wonderfully presented, that has real potential to impact and change minds — bravo.
— Edward Mylechreest
RECONNECTING: A Vision of Unity — Kengo Kito
Free; Reservations recommended; Hollywood, CA; Closes September 6, 2021
Located in the Hollywood & Highland retail and entertainment complex, Japan House Los Angeles includes a gallery, event venue, library, cafe, and a forthcoming restaurant, all spanning two structures. An initiative of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan House is “dedicated to highlighting the best of Japanese art and culture.” London and Sao Paulo host the two other Japan House hubs.
Opening last week, RECONNECTING by Japanese artist Kengo Kito fills the rear gallery; this is Kito’s first exhibition in the U.S. The site-specific installation consists of intertwined hula hoops, embodying themes of connection and reconnection. Symbolically referencing this year of reintegration, 2,021 linked hoops traverse the entire space.
This modern, colorful, and universal object of whimsy, play, and joy meshes beautifully with traditional Zen Buddhist practices. “The Japanese word kū — often translated into English as ‘emptiness’ — is used in Zen Buddhism to describe a dynamic and constantly evolving state — not so much empty as filled with untapped potential,” as explained by Japan House.
With two pathways through the landscape of hoops, the immersive installation vacillates in its density and composition. It feels both light and substantial, static and fluid. A key part of the experience is watching other viewers move through the installation; at times, their silhouette is lost in the mass of hoops and then they reemerge from the constellation of color — a visual expression of hope and potential, indeed.
— Laura Hess
The Sidewalk Issue, LA — Pop-Up Magazine
Free; Los Angeles, CA; Run concluded
“I, um, love gossip. So annnnytime I hear anything juicy on the sidewalk, I am all gears.” In downtown Los Angeles, I’m laughing as I listen to a recording through my headphones. “Mike,” the narrator, happens to be a yellow bicycle locked up on Hill Street. Mike’s account is a humorous and poignant window into the travails of an abandoned bike. Although the pandemic isn’t named, its presence is woven into the story and the bike metaphor fosters cathartic contemplation about our current, collective emotions.
Mike is part of Pop-Up Magazine’s Sidewalk Issue, which is a collection of multimedia stories in three U.S. neighborhoods: LA, San Francisco, and Brooklyn. An interactive scavenger hunt condensed into a few city blocks, the experience includes murals, printed materials, a film, and of course Mike, most of which are accompanied by audio in such forms as music, an interview, and fictionalized works (transcriptions are available for the spoken audio pieces). Guided by a map, QR codes at each installation offer up further details.
Utilizing innovative tech and analog devices, the Sidewalk Issue explores themes of loss, resilience, inequality, connection, and hope, often through the lens of the pandemic. A few narratives are text-laden, and the bite-sized, activated installations are more compelling and effective within the immediate context of a noisy, heavily-trafficked part of LA. However, the full experience includes resonant moments such as a restaurant take-out menu reconfigured into a moving story about Arturo Soto, an immigrant dishwasher, and his relentlessly optimistic approach to life. Through these stories, the Sidewalk Issue highlights the physical and emotional intersections in our busy, urban lives and serves as a wonderful reminder to look again — and look closer.
— Laura Hess
Wild Heart Ranch — Blake and Bea Hodges
Nightly rate varies; Twentynine Palms, CA; Ongoing
The Wildheart Ranch is a functional Airbnb/rental located on 40 acres of deserts in Twentynine Palms, not far from downtown Joshua Tree. Folded into the desert getaway is an optional puzzle game that will send guests on a quest to find a hidden secret.
You’ll note on the booking page that the ranch was built in 1954 by Raymond Hart, an eccentric sort who was attempting to harness the energy of underground crystals on the property, some of which may still remain. That’s your fictional trailhead.
The property itself consists of two cabins. The larger has two bedrooms, one outfitted with bunk beds, and the smaller cabin has one. They sleep six total and both have full kitchens, A/C, heating, and wifi. Both are meticulously themed with retro decor and plenty of nods to UFOs and the metaphysical. The property also has a firepit, outdoor seating, an above-ground pool, telescope, and hot tub.
Should you embark on the Hart family quest, you’ll find it’s not too difficult to get started. It begins in the larger cabin and extends throughout the grounds. It can be done by day or — if it’s hot, as the desert often is — night. It’s safe, not too hard, and full of delightful surprises.
While the nearest actual escape room is all the way in Palm Springs, this is a great option if you’re looking for some low-pressure immersion while relaxing in a secluded, but well-appointed spot with family or friends. Bring some board games, hit the store for food and drinks, and you’re all set for a long weekend.
— Juliet Bennett Rylah
Wizards Against Lizards — Cosmic Joke Productions
Group prices flexible; Online; bespoke performance dates ongoing
You and your friends are wizards, called upon to save the world from lizard control. A preposterous premise precedes pure goofy gameplay: family-friendly fun but well adaptable to more adult senses of humor.
W.A.L. appears to be a slicky-delivered single-hander — a very limited live cast controls a greek chorus of supporting characters while driving a 90-minute narrative of light puzzling, ample opportunity for roleplaying (LARPers in particular will feel right at home), and a robust enough digital content library to keep five veteran online immersive gamers engaged and interested, but not so much that one could get lost in the world-building.
There’s nothing groundbreakingly new at work here, no techniques we haven’t seen before, but still it’s disarmingly charming. You’ll giggle, you’ll roll your eyes, you’ll wonder how you and your pals could come up with ideas so ridiculous. The graphic design and online user interfaces are worthy of note; after a year of online shows a good digital interface sticks out.
Ideal for remote corporate team building, a special night in with the kids, or a cocktail hour with pals before the big event.
— Shelley Snyder
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