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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Terrain, Spokane’s favorite art party, returns with more than 300 artists under one roof

After more than two years of hiatus, Terrain is back for an evening unlike any other.

Organized by the local arts nonprofit of the same name, Terrain’s 13th annual event will feature an assortment of local artists specializing in a variety of visual and other art forms, including 354 artists, 12 bands, 12 literary readings, 22 films and five dance performances.

Free for all ages, the main event will take place from 5 p.m. to midnight on Friday at 314 W. Riverside Ave.

The largest multimedia art and music event in the region, Terrain aims to “showcase a little of everything that’s helping to make the Inland Empire a more vibrant, cultural and beautiful place to live,” founder and executive director Ginger Ewing said in a news release.

Performance artist Jewels Dietrich has been involved in every Terrain event since its founding.

This year, Dietrich has organized a series of interactive performance art pieces titled “Trauma Playground.”

Dietrich’s work, cheerful and vibrantly colored on the surface, often takes a darker turn the more closely it’s engaged with, she explained, mentioning one of the pieces – a collection of modified doll houses – in particular.

“The viewer is drawn into the piece by its color and its beauty,” Dietrich said. “When the viewer looks more closely, the inside is empty and stark white, with a bit of a melancholy, alone feeling.

“The houses are surrounded by instruments – people are prompted to play each key, according to what they have experienced in their life.”

Carefully painted according to Dietrich’s vision, the room will be filled with a collection of about 35 objects for audience members to interact with. Dietrich hopes experiencing the exhibit will prompt nostalgia, introspection and a space for communal sharing.

“There’s a whole range of interaction … and then I also wanted it to be something that … would be kid-safe unless you read the content to your child,” she said, explaining that there will be trigger and/or content warnings posted ahead of pieces related to more sensitive subjects. “It is about connecting people who have experienced trauma … to feel like they’re not alone.”

Like Dietrich, Matt Bogue and his partners at Houdini Interactive – a local full stack design and development creative agency – like to focus on presenting artworks that offer viewers the chance to participate in the artistic experience.

In the past, Bogue has collaborated with the Terrain team in various capacities, but this year he wanted to do something on his own.

“For this particular Terrain, I wanted to get some fun digital tech experiences and activations to train to have some fun tech activations,” he said, explaining Houdini’s plans to exhibit a range of “augmented reality” installations. Each of the installations was made in collaboration with local muralists, including Ellen Picken, Stephanie Bogue and Maker and Made.

“They painted the murals in our office and then we created some augmented reality experiences based on their art,” Bogue said. With everything calibrated and ready to go, Bogue set about having copies made that could be installed on a pillar at Terrain.

“It’ll be a lot of fun to see people interacting with the murals,” Bogue said.

But more than that, the project aligns with Houdini’s founding mission, “to create magical experiences using today’s growing technology and evoke mystery and wonder beyond human imagination.”

For information, visit terrainspokane.com/terrain or contact team@terrainspokane.com.