Immersion & Interaction at Pop-Up Installations
Metamorphosing Spaces into Stories
Today, clothing only lasts as long as the trend does, meaning it gets worn once, and then tossed into landfills. This normalization of fast-fashion is making modern day sustainability more important than ever. Fiber Artist Leisa Rich stitches together pieces of felt, sequins, glittery mesh, wigs, feathers, and even reusable Metro bags to create colorful, immersive, and diverse art experiences while keeping sustainability in mind. Rich’s passion for artistic storytelling began in childhood when, as a deaf youth, she found comfort and inspiration in her mother’s textile creations. Today, her sculptures, installations, wearable performance pieces, and wall-hung art are being showcased across Kingston in her project Metamorphosis as a part of the Kick & Push Festival.
If you stop by certain locations in downtown Kingston—such as the Tett Centre, Minotaur, and even the Metro on Gardiners Road—you can find a few of Rich’s wearable performance pieces. On August 3rd, three artists wore white outfits and stopped by a few of the installation locations, transforming their garments into canvases. Throughout the day, attendees were invited to interact directly with the artists, painting whatever their hearts desired on the white dresses. These interactive art pieces expressing art and life through the eyes of fellow Kingstonians were then displayed at installations the following day. One dress had multicolored streaks of paint, the second had green vines and red flowers, and the third dress, which was not on display, surprisingly remained untouched.
But wearable performance pieces and interactive spaces are not all that Rich creates. Her installations also display wall-art and sculptures, transforming the environment into an immersive and colorful space. Utilizing all kinds of fabrics, what looks like the entire spectrum of colours, and a wide range of clothing articles, Rich’s art is bright and joyful. Each piece tells the story of childhood safe spaces by inviting viewers into an innovative hands-on sensory experience. The Tett Centre displayed all sorts of clothing items—such as shoes, wigs, dresses, shirts, jumpsuits, and hats—but two pieces in particular stood out to me: a white umbrella and a red dress.
The umbrella, paired with a matching white outfit, was adorned with many multicoloured malleable pieces of plastic which had been sewn into it. The stitching formed incredibly detailed leaves and butterflies, bringing to mind Mary Poppins’ magic umbrella that allowed her to float gracefully down from the sky. On the other hand, the red dress was a collage of bright red reusable Metro bags, the skirt was arranged in a petal-like fashion, appearing like a flower. The dress was even displayed at an installation in the Metro store on Gardiners Road.
Leaving Metamorphosis, I was transported back to my childhood, when I would stitch tiny clothing for my dolls out of leftover fabric scraps. While Rich’s work draws inspiration from her own memories of finding comfort in creating with textiles, Metamorphosis is not exclusively about fabric; it reaches farther, reminding viewers to reflect on their childhood safe spaces and rediscover the small joys of the past.
‘Metamorphosis’ runs until August 6, 2025, at multiple locations in downtown Kingston as a part of the The Kick & Push Festival. More information about Leisa Rich can be found on her website.
‘Why Don’t We Together’: Immersion Redefined
As someone who has spent countless hours listening to audiobooks, I thought I understood what immersive storytelling meant. It wasn’t until I experienced Dear Bear’s Why Don’t We Together that I realized my definition of the word “immersive” is nowhere near as nuanced as Dear Bear’s. Why Don’t We Together is a one-of-a-kind immersive visual and auditory storytelling experience contained entirely in an octagonal Hut. Fitting up to eight people, the Hut is equipped with lighting, audio, and music that takes storytelling to the next level by enveloping the audience in the story’s setting. The process is simple: step inside the Hut, close the door, press the button corresponding to the story of your choice, and enjoy the experience as the walls light up and the narrator guides you through the narrative.
From the outside, the Hut looks like an inviting padded tent. A poster on the side shows the nine available story options, promising something for every taste: comedy, sci-fi, queer romance, coming of age, and many others. Each story runs between three and seven minutes long. Though short in length, the stories’ plots were streamlined enough that they never felt compressed or rushed. Paired with carefully synchronized lighting and music design, the experience is perfectly immersive without a trade-off.
Arguably, the most distinctive element of Dear Bear’s program is its dynamic lighting and audio. In the story “Park Mosaic,” for example, when the narrator describes something as hot, the lights underneath the benches glow red; when something cold is mentioned, the overhead lights turn blue. In “2086: I Love You,” the whirring sounds of a spaceship sent the wall panels lighting up and dimming one after the other, creating the illusion that one panel was spinning around the Hut like the blades of a helicopter, and when the main character is on a call with mission control, the overhead light flickers in sync with their speech. In contrast, “Just Roll With It” shows off colourful lights in a steady pulse, on beat with the background R&B music. Each story brings its own unique sound effects and lighting to make the immersion unique to the stories’ respective genres and atmospheres.
With seating for up to eight people, Why Don’t We Together is an experience best shared with friends, family, or even strangers. As much as I enjoyed the short stories, I would have loved the option to listen to slightly longer stories so the plot could be more complex, characters could be more fleshed out, and the immersion of the experience could deepen. The experience was so enchanting that I can easily picture myself spending an entire hour listening to stories inside the glowing Hut. It’s safe to say that Dear Bear’s Why Don’t We Together, not only redefines the meaning of “immersive,” it also leaves me excited for the future of storytelling.
Dear Bear’s ‘Why Don’t We Together’ runs until August 16, 2025, at multiple locations across downtown Kingston as a part of the The Kick & Push Festival. More information about the show program can be found on the Dear Bear website.
