"A lot of what I do at Hanzon Studios [an installation art company] and in my personal work is find and collect resources," Ramsey says. "That means I go to a lot of estate sales and frequently find myself getting lost in these deceased people's houses. All of the items were important, and you can kind of find out what the deceased were like by looking through their stuff. That's where the idea for the show came from: I wanted to see what you could learn about a person based on what they valued in the end."
That show, an immersive installation titled The Estate Sale, created by The Catamounts, will be on display at The People's Building from Sunday, June 4, through June 24. The experimental exhibition includes more than 170 visual art pieces in a "house" designed by Ramsey, who collaborated with writer and director Josh Hartwell to tell the fictional life story of a deceased artist through the objects he left behind.
The Estate Sale, an immersive installation produced by the Catamounts at the People's Building, run June 4-24
Courtesy of Brad Ramsey
"I had never written an immersive piece before, but Brad's pitch for the show was so clear, and I connected to the damage of the character right away," Hartwell says. "Brad and I talked on the phone about it late last summer, and then Amanda [Berg-Wilson, Catamounts co-founder and artistic director] and I talked after about the possibilities of what producing it would look like. Then, instead of talking more about it, I just went away and wrote a draft."
Thanks to Ramsey's detailed plans for each room in the house and Hartwell's familiarity with the venue's layout, the writing process was relatively simple for Hartwell.
"Brad's initial pitch to me included the People’s Building, which really helped me visualize what each location was going to look like and what should happen," Hartwell says. "It also helped that Brad had an idea of not only what should happen, but also what the specific rooms were. There is a library, a kitchen, a bedroom and a gallery; knowing what space it was going to be in helped me think about it as a reality instead of a concept."
Ramsey also stressed to Hartwell that the fictional artist needed to be Gen X.
"That is my generation, and we were really the last generation that wasn't allowed to acknowledge trauma," Ramsey says. "We were never allowed to be depressed, have ADHD, have autism, be sad or express any kind of negative emotion; we were supposed to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and power through. My generation has dealt with that in such interesting ways, and I think it's interesting to see how that trauma has manifested itself in the house."
Hartwell adds that Ramsey's art informed the direction he took for the central character, as well.
"I wanted the main character to reflect the gothic sculpture art that Brad so beautifully does," Hartwell says. "We explore the life of an artist who had some mental health issues and a difficult relationship with his parents. This information needed to come out through the visuals and the subtleties. We anticipate that people will be drawn to different pieces of art and objects throughout the house, and that not everyone will discover the same story. I had to be cool with the fact that not everyone would see everything I wrote. It’s like life. This person’s story is out there, and now it is up to you to find that story."
The flexible, open-concept venue space inside the People's Building has been transformed into the interior of the artist's house. To get all the items to the location, Ramsey had to rent several moving trucks.
"It takes a lot of real stuff to build a fake house," Ramsey says. "Even though you may not be in an actual house and the rooms may be a little more odd, I want people to fall into this environment. We really think we can make it so you lose yourself in this experience."
Guests will be greeted in the lobby by an estate sale agent, who will then begin the theatrical piece and lightly guide patrons throughout the house.
"The estate sale agent will be played by different actresses on different nights and is the only live performer in the show," Hartwell explains. "She will show you around and answer any questions people have, but the bulk of the experience is caught on tape or told through another type of media. I tried to incorporate media that didn’t place us in a current time. There’s a reel-to-reel, an answering machine from the ’80s, and photography. It's not a period piece, but there are elements of different time periods sprinkled throughout."
As the creators work to put the finishing touches on the installation before its opening on June 4, they are looking forward to seeing how people interact with the environment.
"I encourage people to always look deeper into the setting and the rooms," Hartwell says. "Read the things that you find; open the drawers; and click 'play' on things so that you can discover The Estate Sale's deeper story. It’s not Meow Wolf; people who have been there might be better equipped to gather more through the story, but I think this has more depth. Overall, I hope people want to know more about this person's story and that they take the steps to uncover it."
The Estate Sale, Sunday, June 4, through June 24, The People's Building, 9995 East Colfax Avenue, Aurora. Find tickets, times and more information at thecatamounts.org.
