Refinery’s 29Rooms returns for its fourth year with a new theme of “Expand Your Reality.”
What began in 2015 in celebration of Refinery29’s 10th anniversary, is now an immersive experience that’s been taken across the United States to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. Located in a sprawling Brooklyn warehouse, 29 Rooms is where artists and different organizations have the opportunity to “create transformative spaces that ignite creativity,” said Refinery29 Executive Creative Director and Co-founder Piera Gelardi while giving a tour of the space.
With rooms referencing art, pop culture, and politics, this year’s 29 Rooms exhibition is as much as an art exhibition as it is a call for social activism and awareness. By working with various creatives and collaborators including Yara Shahidi, Nicole Richie, Rupi Kaur, Carlota Guerrero, Kalis Uchis, Whisperlodge, The Hoodwitch, Logan Browning, the ACLU and many more, the interactive event spans different life experiences and perspectives.
Standout installments include Know Your Rights—a 1970s game show set around learning civil rights with the ACLU, and A Long Line of Queendom, which is dedicated to black women everywhere and the force of their representation in society. There’s also the experience that was created in collaboration with The Hoodwitch inspired by Refinery29 readers’ increased interest in mysticism and astrology, which is expressed in an altar to the self with plush pillows, candlelight, and self-affirmations on repeat.
There are even installations that guests are encouraged to experience phone-free like the Sonic Sanctuary to escape the technology-laden world around us.
“Expand Your Reality” by Refinery 29 Rooms is a fun, unique experience that combines social interaction with style, creativity, art, and activism. Designed in just the right way that allows audiences to escape the bustle and pavement of the outside cityscape, 29 Rooms can’t be missed.
“Expand Your Reality” is open September 6 to September 9 and September 13 to September 16 from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. at 588 Baltic Street in Brooklyn.
