Otherworld, the ambitious $2 million interactive art installation project by local artists and creatives, has just launched a $100,000 Kickstarter campaign in hopes of hiring more artists and boosting production details.
The 32,000-square-foot project has been financed by Chase Bank and private investors, but the Otherworld team is looking to raise an additional $500,000 in total. Otherworld’s $100,000 funding goal is all or nothing, meaning the group has until Dec. 19 to raise the funds in full or risk losing any money pledged. Nearly $6,000 has been raised so far.
The group has provided many incentives to pledge to the campaign. Backers who pledge at least $19 will receive one ticket to Otherworld, while a $1,500 pledge secures four opening gala tickets, a lobby placard, and sponsor listing.
Otherworld’s immersive, narrative-driven scenes will be filled with interactive art and special effects, while production will make use of holograms, holodecks, projectors, motion tracking cameras, and other technology. The funding from Kickstarter will help Otherworld hire “free range” artists for improvising and adding detail to existing spaces and scenes, as well as an additional writer, filmmaker, and programmer to add more narrative layers and gamified content.
“Honestly, we’ve gotten a ton of applications from talented artists and it’s been difficult to keep up,” says Jordan Renda, Otherworld’s creative director. “It’s awesome how eager people are to get involved, but unfortunately our budget is tight, so hopefully the Kickstarter helps with that. We love volunteers though!”
The project began production in June 2018, and despite earlier reporting of a potential December 2018 opening, the Otherworld team now hopes to open by March 2019.
The ideal, fully-realized experience envisioned for Otherworld takes a lot of time, Renda says.
“I don’t know of anywhere else in the world where a single visitor has the ability to change the entire environment like they will here,” Renda says. “But the fabrication and programming is really intensive…We don’t want to water down the experience.”
Video courtesy of Otherworld.
https://youtu.be/FHGa4GOm5O8
For more information on Otherworld, visit otherworldohio.com or follow Otherworld on Instagram.