“The MEDIADROME…I heard it was the event of the century.”
-Unknown Student
The MEDIADROME descended upon Carleton on October 26, 2013. I pulled my hair back tight because I knew it was going to be a wild night. A psychedelic beacon called in the night, inviting us in. A handsome security agent held open the door as I stepped delicately over the aluminum rim. Three projectors in a triangle (the strongest geometric shape, of course) illuminated the glowing MIRRORDOME. The MIRRORDOME reflected images onto 360 degrees of the MEDIADROME. This spherical wall of screen glowed with tessellating shapes that gave the sensory experience of depth. The MEDIADROME was endless.
I see my friends at the MEDIADROME and we smile. Interactions feel that much stranger when you are together enclosed in endless space. Max Thunderdome begins to play, a drone space piece that reminds me just how good they are. DROME master Woody is controlling the lights of the ceiling with his drumsticks, and his glasses are sliding down on his nose a little. The walls pulse with color and I am glad that I am neither epileptic nor color blind.
In the MEDIADROME I think of the Integratron, a dome structure near Joshua Tree that some punk band I was staying with told me about. George Van Tassel built a crazy white dome on an old Native sacred site in order to conduct scientific research into time, anti-gravity, and extending human life. I never went, however, because some women who live there now charge a forty-dollar entrance fee. I also think of James Turrell’s Roden Crater. I think of how he painstakingly constructed chambers to fill with light so dense the viewer (reportedly) feels enveloped in it. I am immersed in the atmosphere of the MEDIADROME to a point where I have forgotten what lays beyond the walls of the dome: the Rec center, the sports fields, other parties…All I can hear is the DROME noise, ambient with the excited chatter of students. All I can see are the walls of the DROME, a blur of flashing lights and color. All I can feel is the DROME, a new habitat and an unrepeatable experience.
Then it is time for my band to play in the DROME. No matter how many times we had played those songs, this was different. I feel entirely electrified by the experience. The MIRRORDOME glows in front of me, like the holiest shrine of a space age cult. The crowd shouts my lyrics back at me. I let them take over singing so I can stare up at the video Haley and I created to accompany our set. I see the pentagram drawing that I hastily tore up after filming to prevent Satan from entering my soul. I see the hexagon shape that unites the six panels of plastic of the MEDIADROME. I see the graceful arcs of the DROME seams. I spin, head pointed to the center, to take in all 360 degrees of visual stimulation. I feel like glitter is running through my veins. My only regret is that I have to blink and miss fractions of seconds of the experience.
It is nearly impossible to separate myself from the work I did to create the MEDIADROME. I have never been so excited about a project or so proud of the outcome. The MEDIADROME was the event of the century.
What will she ever do next?
DROME WORLD TAKEOVER
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