At the third annual Immersive Art Fest, art is climbing the walls of just about every surface at The Bushnell, a vast nearly century-old building in Hartford.
Art forms that will be on view Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. include live action, gaming, dancing, video, projections, a playroom and more. Most of the events combine more than one medium. It’s mind-expanding, family-friendly, fun and fresh, and it’s all for free.
The festival is connected to Theater Week — actually a fortnight, running this year from Oct. 3-17 — when the Greater Hartford Arts Council encourages local theatergoing through ticket discounts and other incentives.
The Immersive Art Fest is a community gathering, a testing ground for new art experiences and an exciting entertainment opportunity for both the audiences and the wide array of contributing artists.
“We feel an obligation to have all these public experiences at The Bushnell,” said multi-disciplinary digital media specialist Ryan Glista, who co-created the event with Carolyn Paine, the local choreographer, performer, producer and all-around arts maven.
“It can be hard to get out and engage with people. This is about luring people in and getting them excited,” Paine added.
One of the main highlights is “Ghost Light Quest,” in which a live action hero is put through his paces by players pushing arcade game control buttons. The adventure is projected on screens around The Bushnell’s enclosed courtyard. “Ghost Light Quest” combines parkour acrobatics, dancing, theater, animation and audience participation.
There’s also “Wonderland,” a 270-degree immersive video experience that lasts an intense five minutes and features local dancer and visual artist Taris “Pop Tart” Clemons as the Mad Hatter and Connecticut drag queen Natalia Fierce as the Queen of Hearts, plus dancers from the Nutmeg Conservatory.
An interactive graffiti wall can be found in The Bushnell’s grand foyer. Attendees can scrawl artwork on an electronic screen and within a few moments, the art will be projected on the foyer walls.
There are premieres of several video works, the latest round of Bushnell-produced videos which burst from the walls and screens of the theater. In “Tyler Green FX,” Connecticut-based make-up artist Tyler Green is shown turning dancers into horror movie icons to the soundtrack of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” The video “African Rhythm Fusion” finds African drummer Henry Kwame Jones collaborating with tap dancer Josh Johnson and Riverdance veteran Will Jackson on a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural display of rhythm. Another video features the LGBTQ+ ensemble New England Pride 247-365 choir performing a medley of “Imagine,” “A Brand New Day” and “Let the Sunshine In.”
Some of the artists who appear in the videos and immersive projections, including Jones, Jackson and Clemons are also performing live at the Immersive Art Fest. There are also live performances by Ballet Folklorico Americas and Hartford’s Proud, plus a drag story time with Patty Bourrée.
This is the third year of the Immersive Art Fest, which continues to grow not just in popularity but in technological savvy. The first festival drew around 600 people, last year’s attracted around 1200 and this year looks to be even bigger. This is the first year that the exhibits are in the main Bushnell performance areas and not just the lobby and courtyard and other areas.
“Our concept is to take over the theater, exploring The Bushnell like never before. Nearly every room is taken over by an art form of some kind,” said Paine.
Both Paine and Glista are on The Bushnell’s digital arts production team which, among other things, produces the ingenious video performances by local artists seen on the outside screens and over the arches of the lobby walls of the theater building.
Paine said the “Wonderland” experience, a multimedia reimagining of scenes from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” will “feel like going down a rabbit hole” and also feature “Mad Hatters swimming through the water.” The Bushnell version is based on an event first presented at a gala at the Warner Theatre in Torrington, which The Bushnell now works closely with on bookings and other activities. Local dancers and other performers were motion-captured with AI technology for the “Wonderland” projections.
Paine said that, in honor of The Bushnell’s history of presenting major Broadway tours, theater-themed Easter eggs have been inserted into the “Ghost Light” adventure. For example, Paine said “If the player makes the wrong choice, the hero falls down a trap door where he is eaten by Audrey 2 from ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’”
Fittingly, Paine and Glista have immersed themselves in this project. Paine performs in many of the video elements and also directed or choreographed some of them. Glista, who knows every inch of the Bushnell’s walls, has finetuned projections and videos and lighting effects for maximum impact.
Some of the items in the Immersive Art Fest are extensions of works Glista and Paine did elsewhere, including at the Warner, where they have been working to create a full-time immersive art space.
“It’s a chance for us to test it all out, then bring it back for the city to share for free,” Glista said.
The third annual Immersive Art Fest takes place on Oct. 12 from noon to 4 p.m. at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Admission is free. bushnell.org.
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