Photo courtesy of Fairgrounds St. Pete.After six months of wrangling artists, the Warehouse Arts District is opening the doors to an-ever changing but permanent interactive art installation dubbed Fairgrounds St. Pete on Thursday, September 2.
Once a collection of offices, the 5,000-square-foot space is now a screaming neon Alice-in-Wonderland-meets-Florida experience that is run separately, but attached to The Factory St. Pete at 2622 Fairfield Ave. S.
Otherworldly Meets Local
Co-founders Liz Dimmitt, Mikhail Mansion and Olivia Mansion came together to string the works of 64 local creators into one space.
“The idea is that this is an adventure into weird, wacky, wonderful Florida – but that’s a mouthful,” CEO Dimmitt said. “Really, this is a whole new world made by artists that everyone is welcome to explore.”
Fairgrounds is the place to be for artists, as the attraction provides each participating creator with a percentage of the ticket sales for as long as their work is on display.
As Dimmitt puts it, royalties for artists.
Names like Chad Mize of MIZE gallery, Nick Davis of NDArtlife, National Geographic photographer Carlton Ward and over 60 more will have both small and colossal marks on the space.
“I really love the attention to detail,” Dimmitt said. “It’s the little things that make this something to be proud of.”
Photo courtesy of Fairgrounds St. Pete.What to Expect
Visitors can wander the motel motif or dig a little deeper into the interactive experience of Fairgrounds, which is centered around a couple who’ve gone missing while visiting the Mermaid Star Motel.
The 1970s-style roadside-hotel narrative leads mystery lovers through hurricanes, alligators and murderous themes as a homage to old Sunshine State stereotypes.
“There’s no set outcome; you can interpret the story in many different ways,” Dimmitt said. “In fact, there’s people on our team that have very different interpretations of what’s happening.”
The exhibit exists in broad spaces as well as many small “motel rooms,” filled wall-to-ceiling with art – a theme that made sense with the building’s previous office space life.
“It’s made for every type of person: kids, young adults, Boomers,” Dimmitt said. “The more you come, the more you’ll get out of it. I hope people will come, and I hope they’ll keep coming back.”
More at fairgrounds.art.
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