by Michael Collins and Kathleen LaClair, Leisure Development Partners (LDP)
They go by many names – immersive attractions, artainment, experiential entertainment, and they’re popping up everywhere these days, and have been for years now. Broadly defined, an immersive experience describes the perception of being surrounded by – and being a part of – a different environment than our normal day-to-day.
These immersive attractions vary widely in structure, visitor experience, operating model, and achieved financial performance. There is no set standard as of yet. They can be more surreal in nature, such as what’s offered at AREA15 in Las Vegas. Or, they can be more pop cultural in nature, such as the Museum of Ice Cream.
Some are opening in temporary spaces for a few weeks or months, before moving on to other locations. Others are more permanent in nature, but with rotating or changing content. Some are smaller scale, appearing within larger attractions as a standalone exhibit. Some center around one artist or firm’s work, and others showcase work from a selection of artists.
Superblue and the artainment trend
Is artainment a trend that will eventually burn out? Or will these immersive attractions continue to develop and change the attractions landscape long term?
As consultants in the attractions industry, we at LDP are lucky to visit all kinds of commercial and cultural venues around the globe each year. On a recent trip to Miami, we visited Superblue. Self-described as an “experiential art center”, the multi-artist installation first opened its doors in 2021.
Located in the Allapattah neighborhood and nearby to the hip Wynwood Arts District, Superblue is across the street from the popular contemporary art-focused Rubell Museum. It also has other cultural neighbors, including the Museum of Graffiti, Paradox Museum Miami, outdoor murals, breweries, restaurants, and shops.
We don’t want to give all the details away (and frankly, art critics we are not). However, here’s a quick recap of our experience at Superblue.
Upon arrival, Superblue gives off cool vibes right away. The previously empty 50,000-square-foot industrial building is a cool Miami white, with bright blue-purple neon lights announcing the attraction. A food truck, picnic tables and shade sit off to the left. This serves as the only food and beverage option at the attraction.
Once we entered the building, we were greeted by friendly staff who scanned our pre-purchased tickets. They informed us that the experience is self-guided, though once you’ve left one installation you may not go back. This is understandable from an operational standpoint, as it helps with flow and capacity management.
teamLab, Pluse Technology and more
First up was teamLab’s Every Wall is a Door. Here, projected imagery of blossoming flowers eventually fall and scatter, further assisted by a touch of your finger. The installation was serene and peaceful, and of the same high quality we’ve come to expect from teamLab.
We crossed back through reception to enter Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Technology. In this installation (our favorite), a room of hanging light bulbs creates a warm, inviting space. An upbeat staff member directed us to a hanging sensor and instructed us to place a hand underneath. The device picks up your pulse and adds it to detected pulses from other guests. It then streams the sounds throughout the room.
A lightbulb also isolates your specific pulse via a brighter light for a brief moment in one of the hanging bulbs, which is super cool!
At James Turrell’s installation for Superblue, we donned a pair of shoe covers, and were told not to take pictures/videos, not to touch the walls and to be silent (rules equals fun, right?). We entered AKHU, a deep white box where you become absorbed in bright color. The borders of the room disappear, and you can’t quite tell how far from the walls you are. It feels vast.
Despite all the warnings, someone dropped their phone, and started laughing and the meditation was broken. We left before the five allotted minutes.
Next up was Es Devlin’s Forest of Us. We were told to sit and wait for other guests. Then, we watched a short film featuring the artist before being allowed to enter a two-story mirror maze, with our shoe covers on. We, like the rest of the guests, were immersed in the many angles and reflections. This room was a hot spot for selfie-taking and other photos.
Massless Clouds at Superblue
We paid for the upcharge Massless Clouds by teamLab and, although understandable given the environment we soon found ourselves in, you have to get completely suited up in a long clear raincoat, with a mask and goggles. This arguably detracts a little from the immersion.
We were admitted into a room with a massive amount of bubbles (think foam party to the max). Not wanting to know it all before arriving at Superblue we didn’t research this experience in detail. However, we were imagining more floating pockets of fog and not bubbles so dense you can’t breathe. Mild to moderate levels of panic ensued, until we finally located each other, and the exit.
Despite the head-to-toe coverings, our hair and skin were covered in sticky bubble film, which was irritating to the skin and lungs. The consistently friendly and good-natured staff had warned us about these things prior to entering. This part of the experience wasn’t for us, but we noted that some guests loved it.
After a bit of self-reflection we discussed that we’re all different and perhaps that as two industry professionals in our 40s, we likely weren’t the core target for this part of the experience!
Audience reaction
Overall, it was a really positive experience. At LDP we visit and work on hundreds of attractions every year and we can be a little difficult to impress. The best way to counter this is to watch the reaction of other visitors and we make a point to do so.
Here we saw mainly small groups of young adults, friends out together or on dates and aged teens to late twenties. People these days are often glued to their phones, even when in attractions, and of course nothing breaks immersion more than staring at a screen. At Superblue the phones were out but they were taking selfies, group snaps and pictures of the art. The guests were clearly engaged, enjoying themselves and no doubt looking forward to the reaction of their Insta and TikTok followers to the photos in this striking environment.
We have worked on several immersive artainment attractions around the world. And, in doing so we have built up a great database on this now not-so-new attraction typology. Some artainment attractions have very impressive penetration and spend KPIs and some generate strong operating profits (while many traditional galleries require support).
In general, the best performers have the most impressive experiences with greater capex and thoughtful design (as with Superblue). The worst performers we have seen (which will of course remain nameless) are more basic offerings, which could be seen to be jumping on the trend.
Is artainment here to stay? Yes, definitely. But as with any trend, the attractions that survive, thrive and set the standard are the ones which have been developed with careful consideration, at the right sites and with realistic feasibility forecasts.
