Blume Studios’ ‘Infinite’ virtually unbelievable
“Space Explorers: The Infinite” runs through Nov. 10 in Stage One of Blume Studios at 904 Post St. in Charlotte
This review by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on September 25. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here. And check out this link for Toppman’s archive of reviews in the Ledger.
Review: From awe to tears as ‘Space Explorers: The Infinite’ immersive experience captures Earth's fragile beauty
A virtual reality experience that’s part of “Space Explorers: The Infinite” takes you aboard and outside the International Space Station. (Photo courtesy of Blumenthal Arts)
by Lawrence Toppman
I wept.
I’d expected other reactions — awe, delight, wonder, slack-jawed stupefaction that makes you glad everyone’s wearing virtual reality goggles and can’t see you — when I attended “Space Explorers: The Infinite,” the first immersive event at newly opened Blume Studios. I had all of those feelings. But I hadn’t expected tears.
This experience, which takes you aboard and outside the International Space Station with 360-degree clarity, reminded me of the fragile beauty of our blue planet, which we’re slowly turning into an oven. I responded to the kind of cooperation between nations we so seldom see 250 miles below on Earth. As I watched planets and stars dance to the music of the spheres, I realized God or Accident or Whatever You Like created a celestial spectacle we scarcely imagine.
Using VR was like scuba diving for the first time: I entered an alien world whose rules I didn’t fully know and panicked for a moment. Was I actually stepping off a platform into deadly thin air? What happened if I pushed that button floating in front of my face? (It activated one of dozens of videos, possibly different from what other voyagers saw.) When I got in the way of an astronaut tossing a football to a comrade, it “bounced” off my skull and fell virtually to the floor.
The 30-minute “Infinite” virtual reality portion of the experience takes place in two large rooms and a black-box anteroom, where you get a scene-setting light show before you’re handed the headset. These rooms sit along one side of the high-ceilinged, warehouse-like space Blumenthal Performing Arts took over from Charlotte Pipe and Foundry off West Morehead Street, near the Interstate 77 exit.
(Blumenthal Arts estimates the total visit to “Space Explorers: The Infinite” lasts upwards of an hour, when you take into account all aspects of the event.) [Edited on 9/26/24 to add the estimated length of the total visit.]
The space where the “Infinite” experience takes place has been dubbed Stage 1. Stage 2 sits next door and houses the interactive dinner theater production “Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience,” which runs Sept. 26-Oct. 13.
There’s more to Stage 1 than “Infinite.” You can admire “GAIA,” a globe 19 feet in diameter assembled by artist Luke Jerram from NASA images in space. If you position yourself under the gently revolving, cloud-capped ball, you get an “Atlas holding the world on his shoulders” selfie.
For that matter, a nearby kiosk allows you to pose against a backdrop of space, beneath two floating astronauts. “Michelangelo’s touching-his-finger-in-the-heavens pose is very popular,” said an attendant, thinking of the Sistine Chapel painting of Adam and God. (Yes, I did.)
Stand-alone panels around the room introduce you to various astronauts of the late 20th and 21st centuries. Retired skysailor Joan Higginbotham, who lives in Charlotte at 60 and will be a goodwill ambassador for Blumenthal programs this fall, can be found next to a glass case containing Astronaut Barbie, who turned 59 this year. Could she have influenced little Joan?
Other artistic highlights include Meredith Connoly’s “Dew Drops,” which hung over me like three honeycombed pods waiting to release otherworldly spores, and TuxedoKat’s “Upcycled Moon Man,” who’s just outside the entrance to Stage 1. He’s composed partly of pop tabs collected from the community and a mosaic pattern created from scrap reflective vinyl, and he could be moonwalking in either the literal or terpsichorean sense.
There’s a gift shop at the end of the immersive space, a place to get drinks and snacks and areas to sit, resting or meditating on the cosmos. Everything but “Infinite” can be seen or done for free, though you probably wouldn’t go over there without taking the VR trip.
If you do go before “Infinite” leaves Nov. 10, heed these four tips:
Don’t eat or drink before watching the wooze-inducing black box light show, let alone donning the headset. Nobody wants to experience blurptual reality.
Ask lots of questions beforehand. At attendant told me how to work the headset but not to ignore the “exceeding maximum recommended volume” warning; I had to turn the headphones all the way up to hear. I stood in the Space Station for five of my 30 minutes before a staffer asked, “Are you punching the virtual buttons for the videos?” I hadn’t been told there were any!
People and objects seem closer to you than they are — a good thing, in the case of walls and furniture designated by wavy red lines.
Look in all directions, because in space there’s no “up” or “down.” Don’t focus only on what’s in front of you or next to you.
And take a moment to look at the outlines of your own VR avatar as you enter the chamber. Study the dots flowing across your hands, which make you think you’re constructed from the same cosmic dust that formed the stars billions of years ago. Which, of course, you are.
If You’re Going: “Space Explorers: The Infinite” runs through Nov. 10 in Stage One of Blume Studios at 904 Post St. in Charlotte. The 30-minute event begins at multiple times every day except Mondays. Ticket prices vary according to the day of the week, and children under 8 will not be admitted to the immersive show.
Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s back in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews about two times each month in the Charlotte Ledger.
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