A collaborative, artist-made haunted house in JeffCo October 2020
- What: No Place to Go – a pandemic-safe, haunted house art experience
- In-Person Tickets: Bring Your Own Car Ticket ($60)
- Multi-site car tour in 40 West Arts District and Wheat Ridge
- Thursday through Sunday, 6-10pm
- Dates: 10/22, 10/23, 10/24, 10/25, 10/29, 10/30, 10/31, 11/1
- Where: Mint & Serif 7310 W Colfax Ave, Lakewood, CO 80214
- VR Option: Virtual Tickets ($25)
- Release date November 2020. 360 Degree Video Content.
- Info & Tickets: www.no-place-to-go.com
DENVER – Presented by RedLine in partnership with 40 West Arts and sponsored by Beston Homes Team, No Place to Go is an artist-made haunted house where unrealized fears manifest in an immersive world driven by choice-making and the horror of the binary. A collaborative project directed by Serena Chopra, Kate Speer and Frankie Toan, No Place to Go is a pandemic-safe, multi-site car tour in 40 West Arts District and Wheat Ridge. Each installation is a fantastical realm designed by some of the boldest, emerging, and mid-career artists in the seven county region: nolan tredway, Michaela Mujica-Steiner + Emily Marie Passos Duffy, Moe Gram, Nicole Anona Banowetz, Hayley Krichels, Hayley Dixon + Renee Marino, Chrissy Espinoza + Grace Cooper, Steven Frost, and BAGBAYSHA (Chris BAGley + Koko BAYer + Thomas ScHArfenberg). Visit www.no-place-to-go.com for tickets and more info.
The original idea was a singular haunted house, but given the new era we are in, we are unhousing our fears, re-imagining the performance structure to support physical distancing for both the artists and the audience. No Place to Go is spread out across five sites in a two mile area of Wheat Ridge and 40 West Arts District. For the in-person experience, tickets are sold by the car, which includes attendance for all individuals in the vehicle (please no more than 5 people for safety precautions). The No Place to Go App designed by Bryan Costanza provides each car with a unique show route as well as a sound score designed by Mike Clark to accompany the audience as they drive between sites. The App also provides additional show information and custom-made interactions with the installations to create a contactless experience. The virtual reality option, which will be released in November 2020, offers audiences the option to view 360 degree video of the experience from the safety of their own home.
We live in fearful times. What better way to cope than by harnessing our fears–collective and individual–and turning them into a creative direction? The project will premiere just before the presidential election, and will be a timely commentary on the limitations and fears inherent in our political “choices.” In the shadow of the impending election, we are confronted with our fraught participation in the nation state and will necessitate radical, queer modes for re-imagining the relationship of our bodies to our haunted (national) home. Through queering the haunted house experience, No Place to Go offers a critical look into the cultural fears of bodies in oppressive sociopolitical spaces. In a typical haunted house, viewers are faced with culturally dominant fears that take the form of recognizably scary objects and scare tactics, such as zombies, chainsaws and demons. Alternately, No Place to Go will connect audiences to internal landscapes of fear, allowing them to experience the ultimate fear that there is no place to be, no place to go for certain bodies in oppressive sociopolitical spaces.
No Place to Go is presented by RedLine and 40 West Arts and sponsored by Beston Homes Team with additional support from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District and the National Performance Network Artist Engagement Fund. Tickets for in-person viewing (with COVID-19 safety measures) and VR options are now available. For more information, visit www.no-place-to-go.com.
About the Co-Directors
Based in Denver, Frankie Toan (they/them/theirs) is an artist working mostly with craft and DIY materials and techniques to create large plush sculptures, interactive works, and immersive installations. Frankie holds a BFA in Craft/Material studies from Virginia Commonwealth University, with a minor in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s studies. Their current body of work consists of elongated or engorged body parts tied, arranged, and installed in conversation with each other, creating fantasy bodies. Frankie has participated in many group shows and collaborations nationwide. Recent projects include a commission for Meow Wolf’s Kaleidoscape immersive ride at Elitch Gardens and their public art installation “Public Bodies” for Between Us Alleys, a citywide art intervention. They have had residencies at RedLine (CO) and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN). An avid mystery theatre fan, Frankie has written 3 mystery theatre plots, including the collaborative production [Colony 933]. Website: https://fetoan.com
Serena Chopra (she/her/hers) is a multidisciplinary artist. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Denver, an MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder and was a 2011-2013 RedLine artist in Residence, a 2016-2017 Fulbright Scholar (Bangalore, India), and has received a month-long artist residency at Understudy Denver for September 2020. She has two books, This Human (Coconut Books 2013) and Ic (Horse Less Press 2017), as well as two films, Dogana/Chapti (2018, winner of ArtHyve’s Archives as Muse Film grant, Official Selection at Frameline43, Oregon Documentary Film Festival, Seattle Queer Film Festival, Nahia Film Festival and Cinema Diverse) and Mother Ghosting (2018). She is an 8-year company member with Evolving Doors Dance and was recently a featured artist in Harper’s Bazaar (India) as well as in the Denver Westword’s “100 Colorado Creatives.” She has forthcoming publications in Foglifter and Matters of Feminist Practice (Belladonna). Serena is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Seattle University. Website: SerenaChopra.com
Kate Speer (she/her/hers) is a dancer, choreographer, and organizer based in Denver, CO. She has had residencies at RedLine (CO), PlatteForum (CO), Middlebury College (VT), Swarthmore College (PA), and Mascher Space Cooperative (PA), all of which emphasize community engagement that is inherent in her dancemaking. Often self-producing in DIY spaces, her own choreography has been supported by National Performance Network Creation Fund, Colorado Creative Industries Career Advancement Grant, and the Puffin Foundation, and has been presented at Performatica (Cholula, Mexico), Boulder International Fringe Festival (CO), Philly Fringe (PA), ETC Performance Series (PA), and FAB Dance Showcase (ME). Always seeking collaborative performance projects, she directed [Colony 933], an immersive mystery dance-theatre conceived of and created collectively with 20 different artists in visual, performance, and music. She has had the pleasure to perform in work by Gesel Mason Performance Projects, Ondine Geary, Raja Feather Kelly, Tania Isaac, and Claudia Lavista. Website: http://www.katespeerdance.org/
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