Kid Review: Factory Obscura's BEYOND Exhibit - MetroFamily Magazine
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Kid Review: Factory Obscura's BEYOND Exhibit

Reading Time: 3 minutesย 

Kid Reviewer: Isaac Roldán, age 6โ€‹

What made the experience stand out?

This kind of art isn’t like a museum at all. It’s almost like a house, a place you can walk through and touch everything. Nothing is normal there so you’ll be surprised at everything there is to see and find. You’re allowed to touch the furniture and what’s on the walls. There are four doors and something crazy is behind each one, like four separate worlds that are very strange.

What was the best part?

I liked being able to climb into all the different areas to see art that’s not like just looking behind glass or in a case where you cannot touch it. This way of seeing art takes up your whole body because you walk around and see amazing colors, touch it all, open drawers on dressers and just keep being surprised. You have to go up some stairs, climb a ladder, go behind all the doors and find what you want to see. The best part is that you never know what to expect, kind of like in a dream except every room is different with lots of colors and there’s even a big cake hanging upside-down from the ceiling and cookies that come out of a toilet and a giant llama and dried flowers in the walls. Plants and nature are my favorite things so that area was the best one to me.

What was the worst part?

I kept getting confused about which doors we had already gone through. And it was kind of dark. I wasn’t scared but it reminded me of the movie “Coraline.”

Will other kids like visiting this art exhibition?

Yes, because you don’t have to be the same kind of quiet as at a museum. Also, it’s good for kids to see that art can be weird and not be wrong. I also felt a lot of peace in different areas and being up high looking down in the dark made me feel sleepy. Other kids will also be happy to see art that doesn’t take all day. You can go back home quickly but with all these images in your mind. It’s kind of like visiting another planet, then you go back to Earth and your regular house, but you can’t forget what you saw. If an alien came out, it would be surprising but also normal for in there.

Would this experience be enjoyed by your siblings? Why or why not?

Yes, my oldest brother, Sam, is 11 and he liked seeing all the different areas. He’s old so he takes more time doing things and he helped me read some of the letters hidden in the dressers and other words that were around. My younger brother, Gabriel, is 3 and he liked seeing all the shiny lights and being able to move through the different areas.

If you could do this again, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

I would watch “Coraline” again before going to see the art because it reminded me so much of that. I would also wear something weird to help celebrate the feeling in there, which is very strange.

Does anything you learned match up with what you’re doing in school or have done before?

Yes, we visited a different art exhibit made by these same artists last year and it was strange but this was stranger. I loved both but this one was my favorite. It’s like the one we saw last year but there’s more to see. I can’t believe that place used to just be full of tires. There are no tires in there now and it’s nothing like a tire shop because the art took over.

What do you think you’ll remember most about visiting?

All the weirdness is art and the colors are so bright in the dark, kind of like a maze of strange things followed by more strange things. I think everyone should visit so they can take in what’s different from their regular life at school and at home. When you lay down to go to sleep, you’re going to see what’s behind the doors on your eyelids.

[Editor's Note: Read all our Kid Reviews at www.metrofamilymagazine.com/Kid-Reviews/]

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