‘Zero Space’: An Immersive Experience Review | Immersive Storytelling

Make-up Week Assignment:

For this homework assignment, [the falcuties] would like to assign you an experience of your choice as a make-up class. You can attend one or more of the following events, or another one that you think is a good one that is also ‘immersive’.

Please write a 350-500 word review of the experience as though you’re discussing the reading/lecture.

During the break, I planned to visit Zero Space with some of my friends. Zero Space showcases a collection of immersive and interactive light arts, located in Midtown, Manhattan. Zero Space showcases a collection of immersive and interactive light arts, located in Midtown, Manhattan. There are two types of experiences that people can purchase: “The Show” and “The Museum.” The show section incorporates all there is to the museum experience, along with real dressed-up actors as aliens who will guide participants through a storyline. Though both experiences are hosted within the same space and interactive artworks, the major differences between them lie on how the audience navigate within the space and the price of each experience. The full show with actors costs $50, while the museum experience takes $35. While doing some research on Zero Space, I found that there was an abundance of negative reviews on The Show, and so- I chose to go with The Museum experience and compare my take on Zero Space from there. Among my friends, one was able to make time to come with me and we booked a 1-PM slot on Wednesday, November 27th. Since we got the tickets for a mid-day period, the museum didn’t have too many people and looked quite spacious without any waiting time between sections. Upon entering, I noticed right away the change of atmosphere. Leaving the bright street at noon, we arrived in a dark zone (with floors and all surrounding walls covered black) with colorfully lit LED lights and ambient music. After checking in, we walked through a narrowed walkway in tin metallic color, having to push through some heavy transparent curtains. Walking through this, my friend and I got really excited. Through the tunnel, they introduced us to a massive space — again, dark around with very colorful lights — and directed to go to the left first. We encountered individual works, some of which were interactive (with tracking cameras) which we could see ourselves transformed abstractly, some others were just static light installation to look at and take photos. Entering the next section, we faced with projected domes. One of which I had to get on my knee to craw inside, which was visually pleasing but weren’t else we could do in there. Two other domes were there as well as part of the installation, which were also not interactable. The dome was the most fascinating out of all, it was magnificently lit and we were able to participate in a projected experience inside. We laid back on armchairs that were horizontal to the ground and the projection was on the curvy ceiling of the dorm. I found it difficult to describe what exactly we saw but could be vaguely described as “symmetrically animated graphics”. How we laid on the chairs made it seemed like we were flying through a portal. However, as soon as the experience ended, the room lit up and we were guided outside by an employee, which took away the immersive feeling right after. Sparingly throughout the next few rooms, there were visually stimulating projected light or LED light works, which didn’t hold us back for long. We ended the show with the interactive sandboxes — quite interactive and children lingered here the longest, but I couldn’t stand putting my hand in there much since there weren’t sanitizers available. We finished the entirety of Zero Space within 40-45 minutes. I’m glad that I took The Museum experience instead for I didn’t have to compare my experience with its worth constantly, as some reviews had noted. Overall, the space was quite immersive but could have had some improvements to the setup so it was less distracting.

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