“Routine on repeat Monday to Friday. We can’t wait for the weekend to blow our money on creating memories that will get us through the week to come. We live for the weekends. Because we feel at the weekends. We have become emotions chasers. We chase our own emotions in alcohol, drugs, holidays, experiences, sex, love, music, sports, you name it. Emotions are becoming a commodity that money can buy.

These emotions triggered by external stimuli last for the time of the highs but when the lows kick in, we are left with the ripple effects, the aftermath, the comedowns. The feeling of being lost. We live in this cycle of highs and lows and in between, there is the “okay” limbo. But how are we really feeling?”

We asked our artists to [INSERT FEELING HERE] and create an art immersion to reflect on the highs, the lows and everything in between. Through art, we wanted to make space for these raw emotions and let the audience feel art. By accepting our own vulnerability, our vision was to build emotional bonds between the artist’s creative process and the audience.

To see what each of them came up with, check out our exhibition zine.

As with every deep dive into emotional territory, we went through a rollercoaster of highs and lows in the lead up to the exhibition. Here is the lowdown.

We wanted to create an immersive space where the audience could dive into the creative mind of each artist. And when we dream, we dream big. But how to translate an artist’s vision into a physical immersion with literally no budget?

The first step was for each artist to come up with a feeling they wanted to communicate to the audience – simplifying it down to one feeling wasn’t easy to start with! Denisha Anderson wanted to get the audience to experience the struggle of creating from a blank canvas.

[Insert Feeling Here] Art Exhibition

Eva Merendes wanted to build a human-sized dome and create a safe circle.

[Insert Feeling Here] Art Exhibition

Abigail Phang wanted the audience to walk into her painting and become part of it.

[Insert Feeling Here] Art Exhibition

Oscar T Wilson wanted the audience to see life through his eyes.

[Insert Feeling Here] Art Exhibition

Joanna Layla wanted the audience to see-through her work and read between the lines.

[Insert Feeling Here] Art Exhibition

Blandine Bardeau wanted to transport the audience into a whirlwind of creative emotions spinning out of control.

[Insert Feeling Here] Art Exhibition

Ioustini Drakoulakou wanted the audience to capture a glimpse of the ephemeral aspect of life with messages appearing and instantly disappearing.

Insert Feeling Here Exhibition Immersion by Ioustini Drakouloukou

Sophie Rawlingson wanted to talk about the quarter-life crisis and encourage us to share experiences.

Yiyan Zhou wanted the audience to feel the strength and beauty of the creation process in a live performance to the sound of the cello and the movements of a dancer. Mark Strepan wanted to fill the space with hope by creating a bridge between the past, present and future in a familiar space with memories scattered around for the audience to discover.

Insert Feeling Here Exhibition Immersion by mark Strepan

A few compromises later, we had a plan. We then took each idea and deconstructed it, working out each part in isolation. We used fabric, plants and walls to divide the space and create a flow between the 10 immersions. We called on all the physics we knew and a couple of clever friends to hang structures from the ceiling, make balloons filled with paper pop using a ruler, a string and a pin and build a dome amongst other miracles.

But of course, there were a couple of big hiccups. We ran out of time (as one always does) and found ourselves with 3 immersions to build and the doors opening in 45 minutes. The space was a mess and stress levels were through the roof. Then people started coming through the door while we were still figuring out how to make the silent disco headphones work.

Insert Feeling Here Exhibition Immersion by Oscar T Wilson

At this point we thought to ourselves, there is nothing else we can do, people won’t know what they are missing out on and we will do better tomorrow so we headed for a celebratory drink at the bar. (Note to self: next time have a dummy run before the big opening).

Things didn’t go as planned. But when do they ever do? Besides, the hiccups are what makes the story.