29Rooms Heads To NYC With Collabs From Kali Uchis, TheHoodwitch & More

When Refinery29's 29Rooms kicked off in New York City in 2015, it was competing against itself (for the most part) as "Instagram museums" hadn't saturated the market. However, the scene has certainly changed and word of a new picture-worthy spot in town is sort of the norm. So, the folks behind the long-running franchise decided to try and go beyond the visual for their 2019 installment to recruit their attendees to, well, engage with one another.

Located at the waterfront of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the pop-up shop returned the Big Apple on Thursday night (December 6) for a press preview to showcase the many collaborations the brand has made across the realms of art, culture, tech, entertainment, politics and more. Among some of the familiar names include Kali Uchis, ACLU, TheHoodwitch and more. However, this year's biggest draw is the aforementioned opportunity to connect. Friends serve as other friends' personal photographers, but how often do you go up to strangers to talk about their experience? Rarely. While many of the installations were recycled from their 2018 installment in Park Slope, one of this year's new additions isn't entirely stimulating to the feed at all. One room called 29Questions prompted attendees to pair up with strangers, where you were forced to look each other in the eyes for 30 seconds and then proceed to answer provocative questions regarding love and identity. Meanwhile, another room offered visitors with the opportunity to paint, an activity you probably haven't done in years. Another room walks you into a sparkling box of streamers and dance music to get you moving.

In a new interview with Fast Company, Refinery29 cofounder and executive creative director Piera Gelardi explained that the initial event started as a celebration of the brand's 10-year anniversary, rejoicing in their collaborators and content that they were covering as a digital brand, but it has moved on from that. "It gets people outside their comfort zones," she said during the most recent episode of Fast Company‘s podcast Creative Conversation. "It's a space of permission for them to pick up a paint brush for the first time since middle school, for them to dance in public, for them to meet a stranger, to engage in things that or be exposed to things that they might not otherwise. It really shows this range of creativity and gives people access to that and explore different passions that they might have or things that they might not tap into daily. I think a lot of people have a wound with their creativity."

29Rooms' visit to New York is currently open to the public until December 15. Click here to purchase your tickets!

Photo: Getty Images