The art, music, and wellness festival Art With Me has just announced its first event of 2023 with Dance With Me Las Vegas. Produced in collaboration with Transfix Art, the immersive gathering will take place on Friday, May 12th, 2023 at Resorts World Las Vegas.
For this unique experience, Art With Me and Transfix Art will showcase 55 large-scale interactive, kinetic, illuminated, and fire-breathing art installations, 3 stages of music, live performances, and an exclusive opening experience with special musical guests.
In line with the announcement, festival organizers have already confirmed musical performances from Lee Burridge, Sabo & Goldcap, Anthony Middleton, Atish, Britta Arnold, Chris Cauldron, Facundo Mohrr, Francesca Lombardo, Gavlak, Isaiah Martin, Lovestruck (aka Nico Stojan & Holmar), Mandrake, Matt Caines, Öona Dahl, Sinca, The Soul Brothers, YokoO, Parra For Cuva, and more.
To learn more about Dance With Me Las Vegas, digital art, architecture, and curatorship, we caught up with Art With Me founder Matt Caines and architect/designer Marc Dizon.
EG: Hey Matt! Hi Marc! It’s a pleasure to have you both here with us. How have you been? Where are you right now?
Matt Caines: Hey EG, great to be back. I’m great, super busy, but busy is good, right? Currently, I am back home in New York spending some time with my family before all the upcoming summer travel starts.
Marc Dizon: Hi EG! I’ve been good, currently back in Venice Beach for a short break after a crazy month of projects opening and launching.
EG: Great to hear you guys are doing well. So, from the top. How did you guys meet and when did you decide to start working together?
Matt Caines: Wow, I guess it was about 9 years ago back in 2014 when I was still working with the Cityfox Experience, back in Brooklyn, New York. We ended up working together on the original and first Brooklyn Mirage concept in the Summer of 2015, which really changed everything. We just connected really well, both as friends and collaborators we had similar visions and tastes. Marc’s a super-talented architect/designer and he has taught me a lot over the years.
Marc Dizon: Gosh, we meet back in 2014 during a run of Cityfox shows and later came together to start thinking about how to build the first round concept of the Brooklyn Mirage that launched summer of 2015. It was really less of a decision and more of a matter of circumstance. I knew immediately that we were like-minded and had a common respect for each other’s ethos and experience, so it was a seamless collaboration.
“As you know, Art With Me is made up of 6 core pillars; Art, Dance, Breathe, Eat, Play, and Care, which represents a balanced program and lifestyle for all. At the root of it all, Art With Me loves to celebrate creativity”
EG: Congratulations on a new edition of Art With Me! You must be very excited. Can you guys elaborate on the specific theme or message behind Art With Me and how it will be incorporated into Dance With Me Las Vegas?
Matt Caines: Yes, this is a huge year for Art With Me, as we currently are planning to launch 4 new events globally. Currently, we have Dance With Me Las Vegas coming up soon, followed by Art With Me Turkiye in co-creative with Beach Sunset Beach location in Cesme at the end of June, along with a couple of more exciting surprises we will be sharing very soon. As you know, Art With Me is made up of 6 core pillars; Art, Dance, Breathe, Eat, Play, and Care, which represents a balanced program and lifestyle for all. At the root of it all, Art With Me loves to celebrate creativity. Through the creative arts, in all of its forms, we strive to inspire positive impactful moments and change. It is a huge accomplishment what Transfix has done through curating and building their art and interactive experience in a way that most people have never experienced unless they have been out to Burning Man. The partnership and visions of both brands fit seamlessly together and I am really excited as this is going to be a revolutionary night of music & art.
Marc Dizon: This is Matt’s and his partner David’s brainchild, so will leave that up to him, but from the Transfix side, we immediately thought of the Art With Me brand and invited them to join us as we make our premier into the music events side of Transfix.
EG: Leaving a killer lineup aside, this edition of Dance With Me Las Vegas will also showcase 55 large-scale interactive, kinetic, illuminated, and fire-breathing art installations. So, how did this idea come to be? Where does one start to even imagine this as something possible?
Matt Caines: I will follow Marc’s lead and allow him, as one of the creators to speak more about the concept of Transfix.
Marc Dizon: Transfix was conceived by my partner Michael and Tom’s vision to share this form of renegade art with the rest of the world and provide a platform that allows the artist to be globally recognized and subsidized for the passionate work that is showcased to a select community.
The collective group that embodies Transfix came together to craft a new type of immersive art, hospitality, and museum experience for the work to thrive.
To launch such a concept, we really needed to identify a market that could allow for such a spectacle and spark the curiosity of patrons to come and experience something out of the norm and break the boundaries and notions of immersive art and entertainment hospitality and really create a new type of experience, A hybrid between gallery/ museum, festival, art park, and nightlife venue.
It took a monumental effort between bringing the art community together, curating, coordinating with engineers, countless hours of designing the architecture, branding, establishing the customer narrative and experience, lighting and ultimately bringing together the music community and inviting the auditory sensory to coexist within the Transfix framework.
EG: How does one tie it all together with the music? Does the lineup influence what sort of pieces will be on display? Does one also have to consider a “dialogue” between the pieces themselves, such as a museum would?
Matt Caines: Music is a universal language and always a soundtrack that guides you through the experience of an event. The art at Transfix was already selected prior to the musical curation for Dance With Me Las Vegas. Marc and I decided how best to place the musical talent in the different stage areas that not only would fit the environment, but make sense from start to finish from a vibe perspective.
Marc Dizon: Music is a very important facet of this genre of art. However, we did feel that the art and the idea of Transfix had to be developed first in order for the music to coexist and thrive within the art experience. So really, in the end, the dialogue between the curation of art and music plays an equal importance in the dance, a balance of all the senses.
EG: Did you guys come across an idea that you weren’t able to translate from paper to reality? What things must one take into consideration apart from the “art” itself?
Matt Caines: Luckily, on this event, no. But I’m sure Marc ran into some of those challenges with the building of the Transfix venue. As dreamers and creatives, we have run into some challenges in the past where what we designed and built has to change due to safety codes, permits, or budgets. It is all part of the process, which you get used to. First, come up with a concept and idea without any limitations and then start to scale back to fit within any of the contractions that come up. Creating without limitations is always the way to go to really express the vision to the fullest, then making it a reality is the fun part.
Marc Dizon: Yes, indeed, there are quite a bit of safety factors when bringing this type of art into a public forum outside of an experimental community like Burning Man. We’ve dealt with engineering from a structural and seismic perspective, life safety with local fire marshalls, risk management, and how a typical run of the show is programmed to run a mini music festival within the envelope.
From a design perspective, there were some ideas that were never made due to the realities of the latter, tech, and budget restrictions. Such as making the architecture kinetic and allowing the space to physically breathe and reveal the art in a new way and interact w the patrons as they move thru the experience, but this will come in V2 of Transfix.
EG: What are some of the most exciting art installations that attendees can expect to see at Dance With Me Las Vegas? Any personal favorites?
Matt Caines: I am really looking forward to Christopher Bauder’s ‘Axion’ piece, where we will be having a very special opening live set from Parra for Cuva integrated with the lighting design of the installation to kick off the night.
Marc Dizon: For me, Christopher Bauder’s ‘Axion’ is certainly something else, and we’ve cooked up something special at the beginning of the show that integrates with the piece.
EG: And how will you utilize the space at Resorts World Las Vegas to create an unforgettable festival experience? Will any areas of the venue be transformed specifically for this event?
Matt Caines: As always, with anything Art With Me does, we wanted to bring our touch and energy to the experience. The venue is already very impressive, so we found some ways to add our creative elements through stage designs and interactive performances to tie the story of the experience together.
Marc Dizon: There will be some enhancements made to the framework of Transfix by layering a more robust visual design to create that added bump in vibrancy and energy.
“It’s a trajectory that festivals will start really diving into as patrons are becoming more educated about immersive art and new media.”
EG: Do you believe these kinds of experiences will shape the future of festivals and gatherings? Is there a desire for things to become more and more immersive?
Matt Caines: 100%, I think it’s the future of events and festivals. Not only do we crave more connection at events these days, but we want to experience something on a deeper level where we learn something new and shift our perspective from just the traditional big-name musical act on a massive stage.
Marc Dizon: Yes, indeed, it’s a trajectory that festivals will start really diving into as patrons are becoming more educated about immersive art and new media. Festival design/ production needs to become more engaging to satisfy the appetite of the community.
EG: Marc, you’re an architect and a designer, and have worked with venues and brands such as Output, Brooklyn Mirage, and Avant Gardner…How did you come in contact with the electronic music realm? Was it obvious to you that you could be a part of it from a different angle?
Marc Dizon: I’ve always had an affinity towards electronic music and really was awaiting the right moment to truly engage in the scene outside of designing and developing the space.
The past work really allowed me to foray my architecture/design background into full-scale show production and breed a new perspective for what I ultimately create for my clients and projects in the future. There’s an opportunity to engage with more experimental ideas that incubate within the underground music world that allows me to fully bake concepts into projects, whether it’s a show or architecture, somewhat of a modern-day Bauhaus where performance, lighting, costume, art, digital, design, and architecture coexist.
EG: Do you have any tips or suggestions for attendees who want to make the most out of their experience at Dance With Me Las Vegas? Are there any specific must-see performances or art installations?
Matt Caines: Show up early and stay late with an open mind. There is so much to see and experience. We will open the doors at 7 pm and allow guests to just focus on experiencing all the art and the venue before we kick off our first performance at 8 pm. It really will be a journey full of exploration with something for everyone.
Marc Dizon: Just let yourself free and explore, there will be plenty of hidden experiences that have been carefully crafted with music and live performances throughout the property.
EG: So, what’s next for Matt Caines, Marc Dizon, and Art With Me? What new milestones are you looking forward to now?
Matt Caines: Marc is part of the Art With Me family and we are super grateful to be able to collaborate with him. Besides the large global expansion of Art With Me events this year, we are also in the development of launching our Art With Me sculpture parks, which we are beyond excited about and really look at as parks of the future. There is so much synergy between Art With Me, Marc, and myself that I cannot wait to keep co-creating with him.
Marc Dizon: There’s quite an alignment happening with both Matt and myself, as I have a hotel/ art park project that I’ve been developing that I will invite The Art With Me family into, and some immediate developments for a large-scale venue in Hollywood that I’ll be developing under my parent company, BHG.
EG: Thank you so much for your time, guys! We wish you a great Dance With Me Las Vegas!
Matt Caines: As always thank you Mauricio and Electronic Groove, hope to see you soon out in Las Vegas!
Marc Dizon: Thank you Mauricio and EG, I hope you can make it out!
Learn more about Dance With Me Las Vegas and purchase your tickets here.
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