Storyteller, experience designer, and creative technologist Alexandra Palocz presents Provenance, which she describes as “living somewhere between the worlds of interactive fiction, audio play, and escape room” this month at the cell in Manhattan.

Provenance invites two guests to “follow the voice of a girl who finds a mysterious artifact stolen by birds, and join her adventure as she sets out to discover its true home” in an experience that takes place in darkness.

We asked Palocz, who recently Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU Tisch, to tell us about the experience, which opens on Feb. 7th and runs through the 22nd.

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NO PROSCENIUM: Tell us a little bit about your experience! What’s it about? What makes it immersive?


Alexandra Palocz: Provenance is a tactile-audio narrative experience for one to two people in the dark. You sit down and are invited to engage your surroundings by touch, fitting pieces together. With each piece, you hear a part of a story, following a girl who encounters a mysterious artifact stolen by birds and her quest to find its true home. As you discover more about her world and your place in it, you engage in a dialogue of sorts with the narration, answering questions that emerge through the journey.

The immersion in this piece does not come in the form of realism, but rather through invoking the senses and imagination. It is the focus on embodied experience, as well as involvement with the narrative through the interactions, that I believe puts Provenance in conversation with other immersive works.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

AP: Provenance was born out of a drive to explore the art of doing in the dark. It started as a thesis project for my master’s degree in art and technology, and I was drawn to darkness for a few reasons. I knew I wanted to make a story piece engaging the imagination, and I’ve always found that imagination shines brighter in the dark. I was also fascinated by the way darkness can (for sighted individuals) transform the familiar into the unfamiliar, allowing for exploration as we discover a new way of relating to space. I was interested in how this process of discovery allows us to make meaning out of the world around us, and how that might tie into the way we make meaning out of a story.

NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience? 


AP: I think they will find the form interesting — I haven’t heard about or experienced anything quite like it before. As I’ve been developing this project and speaking with people about it, many have given me references to other experiences based around darkness. It’s been interesting to learn about what’s out there — dining experiences, board games, installations, and more — but I haven’t encountered anything yet that’s a close analogue to Provenance.

The form is, in the end, meant to be in service to the storytelling, and I hope audiences will be taken in by the story through the experience.

NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?


AP: I think my main takeaway was just how diverse people’s experiences of touch can be, and how many distinct ways people can approach a seemingly simple task.

One specific playtest moment that has stuck with me was from a time when we didn’t have access to a blacked-out space, and were testing with blindfolds. One of the playtesters wore glasses, and had removed them in order to put on the blindfold. After we finished and took the blindfold off, she was surprised to find the world blurry — because by the end, she said, she felt like she could see.

NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?


AP: Sit quietly for a moment. Close your eyes. Think about something that has been lost to you. How long was it in your life? What did it mean to you?

Would it come back to you, if it could?

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