Seattle’s Basecamp Studios 2 is home this season to a 4000 square foot aquatic art installation from True Misschiff, the artists behind the web series SeaTrip. The production is Merlantis, and it’s been transporting guests to “a submerged mermaid metropolis built from recycled human materials.”
Live performances — like this weekend’s Fishheads in Fishnets — add another layer to the experience.
We checked in with Darren Coyote Sarkin of True Misschiff about the installation which runs through March 28th.
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NO PROSCENIUM: Tell us a little bit about your experience! What’s it about? What makes it immersive?
Darren Coyote Sarkin: Merlantis transforms a 4,000 sq ft gallery into an explorable underwater world, blending environmental storytelling and gender-queer fantasy. Visitors “swim” through a landscape of interactive artworks, climbable sculptures, playable instruments, and lounge spaces while an original soundtrack shifts from room to room. The world is built from reclaimed and repurposed materials, reframing discarded objects as something magical and alive.
Rather than observing from outside, guests become part of the fiction. From the moment you cross the proprietary-trash-portal into Merlantis, you’re exploring a living world with its own mythology and humor. Most days even feature roaming characters who bring the lore of the city to life.
The journey begins in the royal Throne Room and sculpture garden, where visitors can play the Tune-a-Fish instrument, climb the Catfish Tree, or take a royal selfie on the throne. From there you might wander into the official Museum of Humans and Human Culture, featuring merfolk interpretations of strange surface-dwelling artifacts including a sculptural rendering of what they believe a “dog” might look like.
Bold explorers may slip down a dim back alley into the fluorescent depths of the Abyssal Zone, where the Sea Witch offers fortunes with a bite. Or you can settle into one of the many cozy corners and soak up the strange rhythms of life beneath the waves.
The installation hosts a live performance series, Fishheads in Fishnets, the weekend of March 20–21, where circus, burlesque, and music unfold inside Merlantis.
NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?
DCS: The team behind Merlantis has been working on SeaTrip, a musical comedy web series, for several years now. The series explores themes of gender ideology and expression, authenticity versus expectation, and the impact of our capitalist, corporate-centric world on individuals and communities. Merlantis is part of the SeaTrip universe made real - the undersea city of the Merfolk who have continued to live joyously despite the pollution from the human world above. This installation gave a chance for our diversely skilled team to come together and create something on a scale much larger than ever before.
Our team created a space that transports visitors into this world, one that is visually striking, immersive, and interactive: as if you are visiting another city. In the video series, Merlantis is filled with human waste, and it was important to carry that element into our construction as well. From our dyed-plastic reimagining of Chihuly (the Trashuly, if you will), to a dark, trash-strewn alley (complete with a suspicious shrimp in a trenchcoat), there is a persistent mixture of beauty, humor, joy, and darkness. Our human world can be difficult to live in much of the time, but there is joy in community and power in self-expression. We wanted to bring all of that into this space.
NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience?
DCS: Merlantis was brought to life by over 100 volunteers and artists, and the resulting detail within the installation is palpable. Every contributor brought their unique perspective and skill, and each space and every piece is rich with layers of intent and design. Some works are designed as functional seating or lounge areas to invite fans of immersive art to come and live in the world for a while - not to just look at the installation but to feel the energy of the space and become part of it.
The treatment of waste as materials also gives opportunity for reflection and surprise. Many of the materials have been reshaped, colored, or modified in a way that they are not immediately recognizable as trash. This allows guests to choose for themselves how they want to engage with the art, whether it feels better to enjoy the sculpture’s beauty, or to look more closely and understand where they came from. For those that choose a closer look, duality between the waste born of consumption culture and the beauty of what has been created is present throughout the installation. There is a celebratory invitation to find value in something capitalist culture deems useless.
NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?
DCS: This project is on a larger scale than what any of our team has done before, and the level of individual contribution and group collaboration has been astounding. We realized early on that we would need much help to bring everything together. As we put out calls for community volunteers, the turnout was both humbling and energizing. There is a special feeling in working as part of a unified group, and Merlantis has that emotion baked throughout. Lots of care and love went into this project and we are excited to share that with anyone who visits.
It probably shouldn’t have been a surprise, but interacting with human and corporate waste streams was emotionally challenging in ways we didn’t expect. City infrastructures are set up such that we do not think about our trash. It goes in the bins and then it’s out of sight, out of mind. Once we began sourcing waste materials for use, the reality sank in of the sheer volume of even our hyper-local waste stream. That experience gave new weight to the meaning of the work for all of us. It also amplified the joy in finding new life for what had been discarded, a feeling that carried with it a metaphorical sense of resilience for those who don’t feel like they fit easily into capitalist systems.
NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?
DCS: To start, fans can check out the webseries SeaTrip that inspired Merlantis and the world we are inviting people to explore. It’s a joyful, community-powered project that features original songs, silly characters, and a story about finding your own path to authentic self-expression. After that, your favorite queer adventure flick, undersea adventure film, or go-to sea shanty playlist will get you in the mood for watery adventure. We recommend: the Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Lure (a Polish mermaid musical).
If you have been looking for an excuse to wear that one flashy garment or silly outfit, this is the place! Fish- or undersea-inspired outfits, sparkly clothing, character costuming - every personal style and gender expression is welcome here. For those joining for any of our special events on March 20th or 21st, dancing shoes are highly encouraged.
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