We did it!!!! We've raised the funds needed to have "Where There's Smoke" at the Tribeca Film Festival via a mix of outside sources and crowdfunding.

BIG THANKS to everyone who contributed and/or helped to spread the word about the project. Starting April 24th through May 5th we'll be running the experience within the festival's Virtual Arcade and also at a special storefront installation on Canal Street a few blocks away.

The storefront comes via a collaboration with Wallplay's OnCanal arts initiative. For more details visit http://smokeproject.co

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1983 our van burst into flames on a family vacation. Eleven months later our house would burn to the ground.

As I dig through my past I find mysterious connections to these blazes that force me to confront a closet full of skeletons. Inspired by true events in my life, Where There’s Smoke details these connections between two mysterious fires and my father’s battle with cancer.

This spring, Where There’s Smoke will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. The experience will consist of two distinct immersive installations: one in the festival’s main venue, and the other as a pop-up in a nearby storefront on Canal Street. Both installations will bring festival-goers into different sections of a house destroyed by fire.

After Tribeca, Where There’s Smoke will become a traveling installation designed to evoke empathy among healthcare practitioners in an effort to reduce intern burnout. Working in conjunction with the Columbia University Narrative Medicine program and the School of the Arts’ Digital Storytelling Lab, the project will act as a curative space that enables practitioners, patients and loved ones to craft and share stories of healing. The goal is to evolve the project into a multi-year design research initiative that harnesses storytelling, collaborative design and emergent technology in an effort to improve care.

We need your help to create an empathic healing/learning experience that can tour multiple cities — starting with a storefront pop-up installation on Canal Street during the Tribeca Film Festival. 

In Brief: Why should I support the project?

1. When my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, the lack of empathy he received was heartbreaking. The careless treatment he suffered has driven me to create this experience as part of a grieving process. This work holds space for others to process loss and explore their own memories through a series of emotional artifacts that are enchanted via emergent technology.

2. Where There's Smoke represents a new form and function of storytelling. It’s a doc meets immersive theatre meets escape room, as well as an empathic space for healing. We did a work-in-progress staging at the invitational Future of Storytelling Summit and the response was overwhelming.

3. The immersive story installation created for Tribeca will also be able to travel to other locations. We're in talks with hospitals, museums and other festivals to stage Where There's Smoke in 2019 and 2020.

4. Work like this is difficult to fund as it doesn't fit into traditional formats. While the work is exciting on its own, projects like this also help to forge new paths for the curation, funding and exhibition of immersive work.

5.  We need $65,000 to realize the Tribeca offsite and to create a traveling set that will hit the road in 2019 and 2020. The physical and technical build-out is extensive and we've made sure to place value on those who are making the project a reality with their talents and time.
 

6.  The tech behind this experience will be documented and shared openly for others who wish to build their own immersive story installations with emergent technology.

7.  We've assembled an amazing group of collaborators - the Tribeca Film Festival, Columbia University's Narrative Medicine program, the Columbia University School of the Arts' Digital Storytelling Lab and Wallplay/On Canal to name a few.

 

The following is based on true events

An Obsession with Fire

Since I was a child, my Dad had always been an enigma. For over 20 years he put his life on the line as a volunteer firefighter and amateur fire scene photographer shooting thousands of scenes and objects in various states of burning. He spent his nights off listening to fire scanners, chasing blazes from dusk to dawn.

I grew up in a culture of fire parades, pancake breakfasts, and beef and beers. My family had evacuation plans, my brothers and I knew how to check doors for backdrafts and we were all well versed in the art of stop, drop and roll. Yet fire would intersect with our lives in strange and devastating ways multiple times throughout my youth.

In the months leading up to my Dad’s death, we had a series of in-depth conversations, finding our way through memories of experiences we shared. From the start, we both knew we were moving into uncharted territory. Where There’s Smoke shares our story in order to hold space for participants’ own memories. Participants work together to uncover nine narrative fragments that comprise the core of the experience, and in the process have an opportunity to connect to their own stories and each others’.

What's the audience experience

Audience members take on the role of fire investigators as they move through the charred remains of a house while searching for a series of objects that survived a blaze. Once all the objects are found a 35mm slide projector and light table magically comes to life. By placing the objects in various combinations, audience members unlock a series of narrative fragments that reveal a mystery.

 

Where There’s Smoke crafts a unique experience that enables participants to explore their own memories through a series of emotional artifacts.

 

The following video is an example of a narrative fragment unlocked by mixing and matching objects on the light table within the Where There’s Smoke installation.

A Healing Space through Storytelling

Through a mixture of storytelling, emergent technology and a collaborative design framework developed at Columbia University, Where There’s Smoke crafts a unique experience that enables participants to explore their own memories through a series of emotional artifacts. The result is an empathic space not easily accessible on our own or through everyday experiences.

Even the walls looked sick — drab, washed out and orange. My Dad sat silently as my wife and I tried to make sense of the medical forms spread out in front of us. The forms had been copied so many times they were almost illegible.

After about thirty minutes the doctor finally arrived. From the moment she entered the room, she was rushed. She started by explaining that the cancer had spread from his colon to his liver to his lungs. The prognosis wasn’t good. My Dad was terminal – given a year to live.

He struggled with the fact that there was no cure. The more questions we asked, the more it seemed like the doctor was speaking a foreign language. We were talking past each other. In a moment of frustration, the doctor uttered a mere eight words that cut deep. They sting to this day. “I guess I’ll have to work through lunch,” she said, without looking up from her laptop.

The visit continued for another few minutes until the doctor started packing up her things, said goodbye and awkwardly left the room. In her wake, we attempted to pick up the emotional debris.

My Dad was a fighter. He lived much longer than expected. Over the course of two and a half years, he went through forty-five cycles of chemo until it made him so sick that he decided to walk away from treatment. To regain a degree of control over his life, he decided to take one last cross-country road trip with my Mom. When he returned from his trip we started collaborating on what would become Where There’s Smoke.

The lack of empathy my Dad experienced during his cancer diagnosis became a source of inspiration. During the final months of his life, we captured hours and hours of audio, sifted through thousands of archival slides, discussed plans for a physical set and chose some of his possessions to become enchanted game pieces at the center of the Where There’s Smoke experience.

What people are saying about Where There's Smoke

The following is an audience members response after participating in a work-in-progress staging at the Future of Storytelling last fall.

“Not all transformations are visible, but 6 weeks since sitting down at a white table across from a complete stranger to start Lance Weiler’s immersive experience Where There’s Smoke I know this to be true: it is a truly transformative experience, in both visible and invisible ways… The experience encouraged immediate introspection and real empathy, both of which seem to be sorely lacking in our dialogue today. That introspection also prepared us to internalize an experience in which Lance and his family processed their complicated relationship with his dad, a firefighter, and the generational legacy of mysteries physical and spiritual left unsolved as cancer took his life. Where There’s Smoke is both deeply personal and universally true, as the best stories always are.“

 

The funds will help to create an installation that can travel to multiple locations

The money raised will be used to design and build a traveling version of the set, to create a robust Internet of Things hardware/software control system with documentation (which we intend to openly share), to rent the storefront and to staff the installation for a month-long run. The total budget for the traveling set as well as staging the experience at the Tribeca Film Festival is $65,000

 

What do I receive in return for my contribution?

First and foremost it is important to note that this project would not be possible without contributions from funders like you. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

 

Please help us to spread the word

Sharing is a nice thing to do! If you find this project interesting please make sure to share it with others. For example...

"Where There's Smoke mixes documentary/immersive theatre/escape room to explore memory, loss and mortality by enabling participants to explore their own memories through a series of emotional artifacts. #smokeproject"

Thanks so much!

 

Additional details about the WTiS Art Book

My Dad shot thousands of photos of things in various states of burning. Those images are at the heart of the Where There's Smoke experience and will be featured in within the limited edition WTiS Art Book. The book features photos shot between 1968 and 1988 when my Dad was a volunteer firefighter and amateur fire scene photographer.

 

More about Lance and his previous work

An alumnus of the Sundance Screenwriting Lab, Lance Weiler is recognized as a pioneer in mixing storytelling and technology. Wired magazine named him “one of 25 people helping to reinvent entertainment and change the face of Hollywood.” He was nominated for an International Emmy in digital fiction for his work on Collapsus: The Energy Risk Conspiracy. His award-winning collaboration with David Cronenberg entitled, Body/Mind/Change premiered at the TIFF Lightbox and his most recent project Frankenstein AI: a monster made by many was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and IDFA doc lab. In addition, he is a founding member and director of the Columbia University School of the Arts’ Digital Storytelling Lab. He’s currently developing a new immersive work entitled, Where There’s Smoke which will start touring the world in 2019.

Selected Works

Lance is known for his immersive installations that mix storytelling, design, play, and emergent technology. His work has been staged around the world at festivals, museums and event spaces.

Pandemic 1.0 (2011) - Official Selection Sundance Film Festival

 

Body/Mind/Change (2013 -2017) - Premiered at the TIFF Lightbox

 

Frankenstein AI (2018 - present) Official Selection Sundance Film Festival and IDFA Doc Lab