Panorama's The Lab is a high-tech art experience, with cotton candy too

At the debut of Panorama -- Goldenvoices's music, art and technology festival on Randall's Island in New York that's being dubbed "Coachella of the East" -- festivalgoers will be dazzled by far more than the musical acts. 

The inaugural fest will feature The Lab, an interactive art experience that "invites festivalgoers to challenge all of their senses" with seven interactive installations and a 360 virtual reality theater. Presented by The Verge and powered by HP INC, the exhibit will feature work from exclusively New York-based artists, curated by META.is.

"The relationship between art, music, and technology is blurring in ways unimaginable in the past," HP's Alyson Griffin said in a statement to Mashable. And indeed, some of the installations are hard to imagine. 

There's The Art of Pinball -- which reimagines an old game for 2016 through a digital art performance -- and Cotton Candy Theremin, created by Emilie Baltz and Philip Sierzga, which transforms the process of making cotton candy into "a multi-sensory orchestration."

And yes, the cotton candy is made of real sugar, it just add some "audio-visual music" into the mix, says Justin Bolognino, chief experience officer at META.is.

“The Lab at Panorama will allow festival goers to see technology as a tool, allowing us to remember that we are essentially one interconnected organism," he said. "Humans that work with and alongside technology will help us to evolve as a species.”

Visceral Recess is an inflatable adult playground that encourages people "to become more familiar with their intrinsic selves." Hyper Thread allows festivalgoers to "explore, manipulate, and create sounds in real time" via a a series of silk cocoons. And Infiinite Wall sounds like Panorama's own Infinity Mirrored Room, an installation of mirrors, lights and sounds that respond to one's presence via motion sensor. 

The Lab  also features The Dome a 70-foot structure that houses the 360-degree immersive theater. It features original music, sound design and audiospecialization by Antfood. 

This is hardly the first time music festivals have gotten into the VR game. This year, Coachella gave cardboard VR headsets to each festivalgoer, and invited those who couldn't make it to Indio to join in via its own VR app. 

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