Never underestimate a good playground. From the schoolyard, to sports arenas, to massive theme parks, people have been gathering in playgrounds for generations drawn together by a common desire for entertainment and escape, for community and kinship.
Everyone has a favorite playground from their childhood. For many, it may be their neighborhood slide and swingset. For others, the ballpit at their local fast food joint, or the arcade at their local animatronic-rat birthday party pizza joint. And yet, as technology marches forward, the playground has not seen a true evolution in generations. As more and more experiences, both social and isolated, exist on digital platforms, the idea of a physical space that exists for the sole purpose of imagination, exploration, and play seems more and more antiquated.
So imagine my great surprise and pleasure to discover LMNL, an all-ages interactive playground and museum, designed to bring visitors together through the thrill of shared discovery and experiences. The newest exhibition from Onedome, who not long ago introduced San Francisco to their first creation, the mixed reality Unreal Garden. While Unreal Garden invites visitors inside an augmented, partly digital world for a serene, calming encounter with the bewilderness, those who venture downstairs to LMNL will find a decidedly more physical, tactile experience that is no less enveloping and boundary pushing.
Not unlike Unreal Garden, LMNL reveals itself gradually. Visitors enter the space through a room lit by an array of analog bulbs. Shadows cast by rotating wooden patterns and the visitors themselves demonstrate the beauty in even in the simplest technology. As you pass by the structures, your shadow moves from wall to wall, previewing how integrated visitors are into the ensuing experience and inviting you deeper into a labyrinth of interactive technologic exhibits and spaces.
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The 10,000 square foot space is comprised of fourteen interconnected rooms, designed by 11 leading new media and visual artists from around the world, each unique in theme and its integration with technology. Through direct interaction or shared experiences, each room aims to unite its visitors — with each other, with nature, and with the world around them.
Some exhibits announce themselves boldly and clearly up front. The “Kinetic Infinity Room” encircles guests behind closed mirrored doors for one of the more exhilarating visual experiences of the exhibit. Still, it’s tempting, as one wanders from space to space, to superficially observe the exhibits. On the surface, the space is an amalgamation of video screens and LED lights, which to the casual observer, seem pretty but simple. Yet, much like Unreal Garden, when one takes a moment to engage with each piece, subtler and more exquisite details are brought forth, and the integration of the visitor can be appreciated more fully. Step inside a large LED sphere and watch as it responds as you breathe. Digital worlds of organic and oceanic environments respond and grow in response to your physical presence. Take a seat in an elven throne, and watch as the forest world around you activates and grows in response to your heartbeat. Children can play in a digital forest, rerouting an electronic waterful with their bodies or with tactile logs, while their parents or guardians watch the ecosystem around them grow in response. Sit back and listen or engage with touch responsive fabric that creates orchestral music in collaboration with your fellow participants.
Onedome aims to evolve the selfie museum and Instagram palace model, and LMNL is no exception. Several stops along the way are social-friendly, though many offer nontraditional, social, or interactive opportunities for photos. The Elixart Cafe remains open in the lobby, serving non-alcoholic herbal elixirs and raw snacks to those with and without tickets to Unreal Garden and LMNL.
LMNL takes its name from the concept of “liminality” — the ambiguous space between stages of transition, and it couldn’t be more appropriate. Onedome’s experiences exist in the space between playground and museum, between physical and digital. And they’re poised to reach their next stage of transition, as well. Beyond continuing to update and expand their premiere experiences in San Francisco, Onedome remains ambitious as ever, with plans to expand and open unique exhibitions in multiple cities. With LMNL, they’ve proven that they’re more than capable of evolving their mission of taking visitors on a “journey of curiosity, contemplation, and collaboration that pushes the evolution of technology, art, and human connection.” I, for one, am eager to return to their playground again and again to see what’s next.
LMNL is open daily, except the 3rd Monday of the month, at 1025 Market Street in San Francisco. Tickets are currently $35 for adults, $25 for students with ID, $22 for ages 12–18, $11 for ages 3–11 and are available online.
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