Color Factory is an immersive art exhibit dedicated to all things color. The exhibit was originally created by Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day in San Francisco. Last month, this technicolor experience debuted in New York City. This 20,000 square foot pop-up features 16 unique rooms that stimulate all your senses. Over the course of an hour, we sampled colorful treats, listened to harmonious tunes and learned more about color. New Yorkers often forget the color and beauty of NYC. With Color Factory, New Yorkers can enjoy the color found everywhere throughout the city. We are excited to bring Color Factory to you.
Color Factory is located at 251 Spring Street and is open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m (except Wednesdays). Guests can register their email to receive a QR coded card. There are several QR coded cameras throughout the pop-up. Guests can put down their phones and swipe their cards to prompt a camera to snap their pictures. The pictures are emailed to you. This pop-up is kid friendly so we brought Dylan and Keira with us. We began our color journey at the 100 Colors installation by Tokyo based French artist Emmanuelle Moureaux. The rows of dangling paper strips are inspired by traditional Japanese sliding screens. Our color tasting adventure began with some delicious strawberry mochi ice cream.
We stopped by the Orientation Room for a tutorial on the rules of Color Factory. The most important thing to remember is don’t forget anything since Color Factory is a one way pop-up and you can’t go back to prior rooms.
Next we walked through a colorful 70s inspired room and selected a macaron from the Pick A Color, Any Flavor installation by Mille Feuille.
We walked though the Hall of Colors, a tunnel composed of hanging buttons in 26 colors. We selected a button and were told there would be a colorful surprise later.
Next we sat down for Complementary Compliments by Christine Wong Yap. We were challenged to draw a Color Portrait of our partner across from us. We were asked questions through the headset, and sketched our partner with colored pencils. After the challenge, we tried the Perfect Pairing. We sampled two gummy sweet treats in the colors of our buttons by Sokerbit.
We walked into Sing Me High, Sing Me Low, Bring Me Back, Let Me Go, a musical installation by the musician Abimaro and the artist Lakwena. Dylan and Keira loved playing with the colorful glockenspiel blocks. We tapped the mallets against the glockenspiel blocks and felt the vibrations around the room.
After the musical experience, it was time for Balloon Wishes from Anagram Balloons. The iridescent ombre balloons featured wishes from students of 826NYC.
Secret Colors is a giant sized live-action flowchart by Molly Young. This installation took us on a journey to discover the scientific result of our secret color. The flow chart leads to a color booth that snaps your photos in your secret color.
We took our secret color with us on the disco inspired dance floor created by Maybelline. Dylan and Keira loved the flashing lights and colors, which was an ode to NYC’s nightlife. After shaking our booties on the dance floor, we sipped on some raspberry soda by Stanley’s Pharmacy.
In From Absinthe to Zephyr: An Alternative Alphabet of Unusual Colors by Kassia St. Clair, we learned the purpose of our buttons. We looked for our colored panel which matched our buttons from the Button Tunnel. Each colorful panel was inscribed with a special hue on one side and the cultural movements or physical objects that created the specific hue on the opposite side.
Next we took a spin on a life sized technicolor wheel and spun around in the New York State of Mind room by Andrew Kuo.
The last room was Into The Blue by Leah Rosenberg. This baby blue ball-pit of 50,000 anti-bacterial balls was perfect for jumping, hiding and swimming. After our ball-pit excursion, we enjoyed some vanilla gelato.
We concluded the color adventure at the Colorshop curated by Brooklyn-based prop stylist Randi Brookman Harris. We selected a colorful ruler by Abby Clawson Low. Remember to bring a purse or bag to stash all your Color Factory goodies. There are also free neighborhood maps, which contain 23 hidden Color Factory surprises throughout Manhattan. You can get your tickets to Color Factory until October 14th. Tickets need to purchased in advance and are for a specific date and time. Tickets are $38 and free for children under 2. Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable.
Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up –– Allen Klein
Great article and pics!
I love this exhibition and I would really, really like to visit it! The all senses exploration idea is so interesting and unique, I don’t think I have seen anything similar before. I like that you get to try so many treats as well!
What a fun and a great experience you had. this is such a great place to enjoy with the kids. I nwould love to visit here one day.
WOW! I didn’t even know this existed! How fun, and your pics are darling!!!
i never heard of this but it looks so fun! what a great experience you guys had!
This place looks awesome. I want to go
I have yet to go to the Color Factory! Sounds like a fun experience and so perfect for Instagram snaps
You all always look like you are having the best time!
This is our kinda exhibition and we love anything to do with colour brights and rainbows and love that it is interactive. Is it coming to London?
My girls would love this. They love art and anything bright and colorful..I wish more things like this were closer to us.
I would love to visit this exhibition and can see why kids would enjoy it too
I was in NYC last week and wasn’t able to visit the color factory but I really want to go next time