Otherworld Philly aims to bring large-scale immersive art to the Northeast

Northeast Philadelphia is slated to get a new immersive experience this winter, and its creators want you to think of it as Burning Man crossed with an escape room, with a taste of a children’s museum and a haunted house.

In an introductory video, Otherworld Philly shows how the aesthetics of trippy video games and circus funhouse will be spread across 55 rooms.

The Columbus, Ohio, company, which opened its first venue there in spring 2019, signed off on a 10-year lease for about 45,000 square feet of space (40,000 of which will go to installations) at 2500 Grant Ave., off of Roosevelt Boulevard. The venue is being created in partnership with Thirteenth Floor Entertainment group, which specializes in haunted attractions and immersive experiences.

Otherworld founder Jordan Renda told The Inquirer the Columbus location brought visitors from as far away as Cincinnati and Indianapolis, and families want a location where they can “make the weekend” out of a visit, so Philly made perfect sense.

“There’s plenty of other institutions in Philly that people could justify not only coming in for us but checking out all the other stuff the city has to offer,” said Renda.

Other locations in the city were under consideration, but Renda said the Northeast venue met the company’s needs with 20-foot ceilings, vast space, and hundreds of parking spots.

» READ MORE: Look inside Wonderspaces, Philly’s new interactive art exhibit, with pieces from Burning Man, SXSW, and more

Across the venue’s 55 rooms, visitors can expect an assortment of light installations, fuzzy creatures, puzzle elements, tunnels, and holograms conceived by more than 100 staffers, artists, and animators — including a handful of Philly artists, said Renda.

To keep the floor plans fresh, Renda said at least four rooms will be swapped out each year.

So what can people do at Otherworld Philly? According to the company, the experience is what people make of it. Otherworld rooms can be explored at any desired pace. And like the Columbus venue, there will be a mix of family-centered events and shows for the 21-and-older crowd.

“Around Halloween, we’ll generally do a trick-or-treating thing with characters that kids and families can enjoy, and at night we’ll switch it to more of like an adult-oriented Halloween event,” said Renda.

In Columbus, Otherworld hosts late-night DJs and events like cosplay happy hours. Otherworld Philly also plans to feature live music.

Otherworld Philly joins Wonderspaces in the Philly interactive art exhibit space. Wonderspaces opened in the Fashion District in 2020. Also, earlier this month, a partnership announced it would offer immersive experiences at the old Penn Mutual tower, at 6th and Walnut Streets, with the first shows expected sometime in 2023.