FAIRGROUNDS TO GOA
The Fair Grounds is an artistic project by the Dutch media arts collective DROPSTUFF MEDIA. The Fair Grounds
consists of multiple independent artistic installations where traditional amusement rides have been updated with new
artistic or social narratives. The result is a truly new fairground, where every ride has been modified or enhanced and
tells a surprising story in the public space: folk culture meets high tech and high art!
The Fair Grounds 1.0 marks the first installment of the media art project The Fair Grounds. It consists of six
nostalgic coin-operated ‘kiddy rides’: carnivalesque attractions restored to their former glory and covered in a high
gloss unicolor polyester layer. Colored in the template of ‘De Stijl’, the famous Dutch modernist art movement of Piet
Mondriaan and Gerrit Rietveld. The objects are placed behind one another lining up to make a small coaster train.
Passersby are invited to take place. They can choose between a motorbike, a horse, a race car, a helicopter, a
‘Pikachu’ and a clown seesaw. Once seated, they don a VR-headset. A big red button will activate the whole ‘coaster
train’. Every ride moves autonomously from each other in its own manner.
360Ëš / 3D VR Experience
Once inside of the virtual reality, the participants are raced through either Venice and Amsterdam in a high-speed
roller- coaster experience. As the kiddy rides move autonomously, the installation turns tourists into art-connoisseurs
and art-connoisseurs into tourists.
The Fair Grounds 1.0 was launched during the Venice Biënnale 2017 in collaboration with the Dutch Embassy in
Italy. During the Cinekid Media Festival 2017 the installation won the Golden Lion Audience Award!
As of 2018, several custom-made 360-3D-VR-experiences have been added to the installation, allowing visitors to
also choose to take a journey through different cities.