Rave for One

Ariana Shaw, Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design and School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Collaborator: Paloma Calvin, LSA

For my Interarts Performance senior integrative project, I am working collaboratively to create a “Rave For One” to be housed in a box truck and transported around to different areas near campus. The space will be a colorful, vibrant, psychedelic dreamworld inside with customized bead curtains, concert lights, projections, sensory experiences (kaleidoscopes and textured walls), EDM music and take-aways for the audience to create a visual and multi-sensual experience. I am embracing the multi-disciplinary approach of my Interarts degree and including music, performance, technology, and visual arts in the project, as well as psychological and medical research to engage the senses as much as possible.

Today’s younger generation is not only affected by COVID, environmental trauma, and social justice crises, but also by skyrocketing rates of depression and anxiety. In my research, I’ve found that we turn to escapism more than any other generation as a coping mechanism for the world around us (Dr. Jerabek). Unhealthy escapism into drugs and social media is on the rise. In creating this project, I want to create a space that emphasizes healthy coping mechanisms such as going to concerts and having a physical sensory experience of the arts. The project will give the broader university and Ann Arbor community an immersive escape into the arts for a few minutes, and they will take home a card that explains healthy ways to satisfy their escapism based on research.

The U-Haul as a venue is a choice I made for a creative solution to the fact that there is not a suitable space for the piece in STAMPS or SMTD where I can control the lighting and entrance. I like the option of making the project mobile and being able to rent a space with reliable measurements for preparation of materials. Furthermore, U-Haul encourages creative use of their vehicles (see in supporting documents) and their contracts are rather minimal. I will be using four by eight foot sheets of foam core to make a lining that can be easily installed temporarily and slid out for de-install. This approach allows the project to actually be more mindful than most renters who throw furniture into moving trucks. I have been successfully getting permission to park outside of downtown businesses in the main street, Kerrytown and state street districts, and for the final STAMPS show I have permission to park in the spot the school owns.