Create
Work by five new artists added to the FloridaRAMA experience
Since its debut in September 2021, the only constant at the immersive, walk-through art experience FloridaRAMA has been change. Rather than a static gallery or museum of art, FloridaRAMA is its own world of whimsy, where nothing is as it seems – and nothing is as it was even a year or two ago.
From major, room-sized additions to small and almost imperceptible upgrades, “We’re adding something almost daily,” CEO Liz Dimmitt said. “I’m a maximalist, and I want more and more layers. That’s what I think we’re all going for here.”
Just this week, works by five new artists, all of them Floridians, have been added to the mix at the FloridaRAMA funhouse.
Vortex Veritas by Nicole Salgar.
Nicole Salgar has installed Vortex Veritas, a small room, pulsating with lights and music, through which visitors must pass to enter the topsy-turvy universe Dimmitt and her team of creatives have constructed.
The name translates as “truth portal,” and it’s an invitation to visitors to leave their own “truths” behind as they stroll into the art-and-technology alt-Florida, where all senses are engaged in a sort of carnival ride, using lights, video, color, music and even programmed aromas.
“The truth portal,” Dimmitt insisted, “is your adjustment from there to here.”
Past the neon lobby of the Mermaid Star Motel (with its interactive guest rooms) and the motel pool (on the ceiling) is Salgar’s second installation, Cabana Confessional. These are changing cabanas that double as, well, curtained confessionals. There are surprises inside.
“Cabana Confessional is that perfect tongue-in-cheek, fun, contemplative, smart example of that high-low phenomenon we’re going for over and over again,” Dimmitt explained.
There is no right or wrong way to commit to the FloridaRAMA experience, she insisted, and no set timeline. Many visitors will walk through first as an overview, to take it all in, then slow down to investigate each room’s myriad smaller details.
Lamp by Guy Williams.
Also new are six new steampunk lamps by artist Guy Williams, each made from found materials and switched on to do unusual things with light.
These are now part of the “cabinet of curiosities” in Rae’s Lampscape Room, along with miniature robot assemblages made with “brass, scrap metal, and personality” by artist Mike Norton.
Said Dimmitt: “We’re always trying to be new, fresh, relevant, but we like to say our aesthetic is ‘retro futuristic.’ That Jetsons-type thing, like what people in the past imagined the future to be like.”
iBOMS, “Joy For All.”
Nearby is a digital “diorama bench” by artist Type_n (aka (Tyler Norman), fusing natural forms with dreamlike, tech-infused aesthetics, and a two-headed alligator sculpture (Mythological Guardians) by the artist Dolios.
In 2024, Jabari Reed-Diop (also known as iBOMs) contributed a series of distinctive glowing and iridescent wall images, using his trademark cartoon characters in a series of wildlife encounters. His installation is called Joy For All.
FloridaRAMA does have a narrative storyline, Dimmitt explained, tying in the centrally-located retro-motel and its fictional owners, astrophysicist and inventor Rae Current and his retired mermaid wife, Pearl.
There are “guides,” known as “pink vesters,” roaming the spaces. “They don’t work for FloridaRAMA; they’re employees of the Mermaid Star Motel,” Dimmitt said. “Some of them are very performative and into the whole thing, while others might not be as much. So they embrace it as much as they want to.”
Visitors will recognize patterns in the artwork, and can pick up clues along the way as to how Rae and Pearl designed and intended FloridaRAMA – but it isn’t necessary. It’s all part of the “choose your own” experience. “It seems like there’s so much going on around you, but there are intentional elements either repeated over and over again, or placed in your path in a certain pattern that makes them more monumental.”
Sometimes just wandering around is its own reward.
Palehorse, “Temple of Cosmic Balance.”
“A lot of things are triggered by your movement; they’re only appearing because you’re there,” Dimmitt explained. “Others are there to encourage people to be hands-on, to be playful and have fun in the space. And there are QR codes in every area, so that if you’re interested it tells you about every artist and every artwork.
“So there is didactic information available, but the narrative, we’re learning over time how to share it, in an in-world way that doesn’t just have a bunch of signs and descriptions everywhere. And we like to do that in a really playful way.”
Another recent addition: The Pirate Ship Ball Pit (yes, you can climb in).
FloridaRAMA in recent years has added scavenger hunts and games, for different ages. Also new is a “members lounge,” to be utilized for birthday parties, art salons and other events.
Coming May 24 is “Day of Play,” a family festival in collaboration with Sunshine City With Kids. Find info here.
Four years into their big adventure, Dimmitt and the FloridaRAMA creative team continue to monitor visitor preferences to “see what works.” Remaining open to new ideas – to change – is paramount.
Always there, however, is the commitment to build up their immersive world with the work of local artists.
“Since we’re not a theme park or a movie set, we have all these artists who we’ve partnered with, who we’ve commissioned to have their art here,” Dimmitt said. “We also want to give their art individual moments, and be part of a whole experience.”
