That Virtual Gorillaz House Becomes Real This Weekend, And You Should Go
The world’s most famous cartoon band, Gorillaz, had previously infiltrated our reality by performing as holograms. Now they’re inviting us into their reality.
After a seven-year absence, the bouncy, eclectic outfit led by Damon Albarn returns with the new album, Humanz, and a real-life interactive experience. Since Sonos is releasing their new home audio speaker, Playbase, around the same time as the album, they partnered with Gorillaz to create something plucked right from the dreams of hardcore fans. The Spirit House is a chance to physically explore the cartoon architecture the band has established over the years in videos.
The first taste of the Spirit House arrived with the VR video for “Saturnz Barz,” released late last month. In it, viewers got a glimpse of a memorably grimy residence in which the band has a somewhat disturbing cosmic experience.
A couple weeks later, the band released a Gorillaz AR app that lets users explore the world even further, walking through the virtual space to see what’s between its nooks and crannies. This new installation, however, goes far beyond the AR realm, though, by actually putting fans inside a physical replica of the house–crawling with easter eggs for those who’ve been paying extra attention over the years.
The Spirit House installation is in Brooklyn this weekend, before moving to Berlin the following weekend, and then Amsterdam on May 6. Fans of the band currently in New York would do well not to miss out, however, at the very least for a preview of some new Gorillaz music. For an idea of what other delights await, have a look through the slides above.
The statue on the left is the demon, Pazuzu, who appears in some Gorillaz videos and on the cover of their D-Sides album.
The tour of the Spirit House includes a mini-concert experience, created by the team that puts together Gorillaz touring light show.
These dirty dishes and cereal boxes should look familiar from the Saturnz Barz video.
Another view from the mini-concert.
The Gorillaz have oddly had a thing for pizza, which figures prominently in their latest video.
Another view from the mini-concert.
This refrigerator “DAREs” you to remember where it originated.
This is the window that gets shattered in the recent AR experience.
These magazines were curated by the band, and include actual a National Geographic with actual gorillas, along with a now-rare physical issue of MAD magazine.
“Kool Klown Klan”; is a lyric from the song “Momentz” from the forthcoming album, Humanz.
Gorillaz are 2-D, Noodle, Russell and Murdoc, shown here muralized.
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