Prepare to be Amazed at Amaze a new Cadillac House Art Exhibit in NYC

April 16, 2018
Art , Life , Popups

We have enjoyed the Cadillac House for its cool cafe and past art installations. So when we learned that another Instagram-able art pop-up had appeared, we made sure to go! Little did we know that we were in for a colorful but spooky labyrinth of an experience! This surrealist selfie maze, titled AMAZE was a unique installation by architect Rafael de Cárdenas and visual artist, composer, and vocalist Sahra Motalebi. “I think in this digital age, people just crave a physical experience in real time, in real life, that’s not virtual. It’s not in front of a laptop or your phone. But at the same time, we love making things that are great for photos that you can share with a lot of people.” Cecilia Dean, (Visionaire co-founder) reports. I agree and that’s one of the reasons we love pop-ups so much. They bring you out of the mundane allowing for multisensory exploration.

Walking in from this introductory, front wall, you have no idea what to expect. But a few steps in, you’re in an enclosed room featuring a circular metal curtain. Of course, my toddler was immediately drawn in for a game of hide and seek!

We played all sorts of pretend games here and enjoyed disappearing acts, shadow play, and races. We couldn’t help however, to be intrigued by the laughter that teased us into the other rooms.

It cackled overhead through the speaker system!

Somebody sounded hysterical and we weren’t sure why. It both intrigued and entertained us!

And yes, we dressed in our black and white houndstooth, having previously done our research and having loved this pop art wall!

And then the overhead sounds turned into wicked cries… And my 5-year-old daughter pictured here sliding down the corner wall, wasn’t so sure about the cackling noises anymore.

It wasn’t until I reminded her that we were in a fun pop-up and that the artist must be trying to scare us as if we were in a haunted house that she brightened up and thought that was awfully tricky. We talked about how we dressed up for Halloween as witches and made the same scary noises. And soon, she had the hilarious idea to try and scare others!

This hyper-chromatic, hallway of mirrors seemed to be made for selfies and proved to be a perfect practicing ground for her scary moves and sonic additions.

This carnival-esque room, prompted all sorts of primping, posing and photographing. So while Instagram-ers were concentrating on shooting the perfect shot, Juliet took this perfect opportunity to jump out from the corner, and scare them much to their delight! Little did she realize that her projected shrieks and cackling laughter, helped complete this strange and surreal experience with a little toddler fun.