OKLAHOMA CITY — In their seven years of creating densely layered, interactive, and immersive arts installations at their 9th Street headquarters, OKC arts collective Factory Obscura have crafted a reputation for pushing boundaries and exploring new creative frontiers.
Factory Obscura “experiences” are often characterized by imaginative, DIY environments, interactivity, reflections, creatures, and more, always forging ahead into new ideas and new avenues of creativity.
So what happens when they decide to take a step back and, for the first time, reflect on the full scope and history of their past arts experiences in their same hyper-colorful, invitingly immersive way?
The answer is “Time Slip,” Factory Obscura’s newest otherworldly installation, welcoming visitors into a pop-up universe populated by atmospheres and attractions pulled from their past, present, and even future.
Running now through September alongside the permanent, sprawling, and ever-evolving “Mix-Tape” installation, “Time Slip” aims to bring arts fans of all ages into a time-smashed space where creations from across the collective’s history are colliding and coexisting all at once.
“It is kind of a greatest hits in a way, but it’s also very much looking toward the future,” Factory Obsura co-founder Kelsey Karper told Free Press. “There are lots of elements and pieces from all of our previous experiences, but also lots of new things as well.”
Journey to the past
Though Factory Obscura has revisited some of their previous temporary experiences before – particularly the more open, performance-based “Cosmic Callback” in 2023 – they’ve never created a full-scale immersive installation designed to re-imagine their own history.
“Time Slip” has been specifically conceived as both an opportunity for new visitors to experience some of the most wildly creative elements of past shows, and also as an Easter egg-filled love letter to Factory Obscura’s longtime fans and supporters.
“Especially if you’re someone that’s been following us for awhile, there are lots of hidden little nods to the past,” Karper said. “People that are really familiar with our past installations will definitely recognize things. There’s at least something here from every single other installation we’ve ever done.”
That even includes some elements gathered from a small-scale installation that many locals have never experienced before.
“We even did a very small installation in Springdale, Arkansas a few years ago that a lot of people here in Oklahoma never got to see,” said Karper. “So there’s even parts of that in ‘Time Slip.’ We’ve just had those things sitting in storage all this time, so we thought we’d bring them back out and give them kind of a new life.”
The trippy present
Entering “Time Slip,” guests are immediately greeted by two massive alien llama-like creatures, all sparkling and three-eyed and pointing the way toward this new journey through time.
Like many of the imaginative elements of “Time Slip,” these creatures have made an appearance in a Factory Obscura show before, but they were a bit smaller then.
“Their legs were extended by a lot,” Karper explained.
They’re tall enough now that a six-foot person can walk easily beneath them, a simple, astutely realized example of how Factory Obscura’s past creations have grown in hearts and minds.
From there, the paths become characteristically labyrinthine, snaking in diverging directions and leading to touch-activated light walls, interactive musical circuit boards, chaotic mirrored domes, overgrown fantasy gardens, and loads more.
Along the way, the motions of the visitors themselves trigger lighting changes, with hallways lighting up in panels as guests move past.
As ever with a Factory Obscura experience, an ear-worming musical loop plays from overhead, and interactive buttons and touchable additions throughout allow visitors to add notes and instruments to the melody.
Again, many of the fantastical inclusions might be familiar to Factory Obscura fans and repeat visitors, with objects and creations looming always overhead and around every corner. Books, giant heads, mirrorballs, and even musical instruments all hang floating and frozen above as if pulled into one shared moment in time by some singularity.
“Time Slip” isn’t all revisited pieces and re-imagined creations, though. There are some brand new inclusions as well, particularly in the form of a bug-eyed, whale-tailed fantasy creature that’s loaded with interactive controls and a surprising backstory.
“Our friends at Science Museum Oklahoma actually just called one day and asked if we might want an old airplane,” Karper said laughing. “It was just a model replica. It never had an engine or anything. But they’d had it in storage for years and asked if we might want it for anything, so we brought it over and started turning it into this.”
Unexpected donations like that one are a big part of what keeps the creative wheels turning at Factory Obscura.
“It’s pretty great,” Karper said. “So often, whenever someone has something really big or strange to get rid of, we’re the first people they think to call.”
Looking to the future
The installation’s use of past creations and brand new additions covers the “past” and “present” aspects of the time-warped experience. But the future is also represented, not only through the inclusion of newly built elements already planned for upcoming exhibits, but through the use of space and concept as well.
“One thing that we’ve really been considering and discussing is actually expanding our permanent experience into this space,” Karper said of the multi-thousand square foot space that has traditionally housed only their temporary installations. “There’s just so much space to work with. The possibilities could be huge.”
“Time Slip,” then, is more than just a way of repurposing older designs and ideas. It’s a way to see how the artists’ most beloved creations from across their experiences might be joined together in a more continuous and encompassing way.
“This whole experience really points to the future for us,” said Karper. “We’re so excited for people to see what we’ve been cooking up.”
“Time Slip: Tomorrow, Now, and Back Again” at Factory Obscura runs now through September 30th.
For tickets, information, and more, visit factoryobscura.com.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.