MicroRave

Formstone Castle’s 2026 Artscape creation MicroRave is an UNAPOLOGETICALLY BALTIMORE interactive dance space. It is a space to meet, dance, and explore the history of Baltimore’s gritty warehouse and club scene of the 90s and 2000s. It combines art, culture, and community across several generations of Baltimoreans. Following a long history of larger than life Artscape sculptures, the MicroRave is a giant (12 feet wide, 8ft deep, 8 feet tall) microwave, but also a really tiny dance floor! Like any exclusive club, participants queue up for their turn to enter the MicroRave. The sides and rear of the MicroRave will have flyer-like posters with historic (am I really this old?) information about the warehouse and club venues, DJs, and attendees from the 1990 through 2000s. Once around the side, participants enter past the velvet ropes, press the giant door release button to open the door, use the giant control panel to enter the duration, select a DJ and pull the door closed. Immediately, the lights come up, music begins, a discoball spins overhead giving the floor the appearance of a microwave’s turntable. On the outside, a clock counts down the seconds ending with a loud DING! The door opens, the music ends, and the space is ready for the next group.

We will be partnering with DJs from different historical dance scenes in Baltimore, taking the audience on an audio tour of various venues of Baltimore’s past. LoveGrove, DJ Who, Chillie Willie, DJ Impulse, and Adam T. Rush are set to participate, and more will be added as the conversation continues. Formstone Castle artists will interview DJ’s, and collect photos and flyers about the 90s and 2000s scene. These conversations informed the final presentation of the art piece. LoveGrove and Adam loaned some flyers which we had MANY copies made to wheat paste to the exterior walls of the MicroRave. The interviews can be played by pressing the "HISTORY" button.

This project is ongoing, and we will continue to document and add to the MicroRave for future events. In addition to sharing their experiences, the musicians will provide music clips to play on the dance floor. We featured several selections to mix things up so the same music isn't played over and over again.

The MicroRave has giant tactile buttons for entering times and selecting DJ playlists, and an equally scaled 7-segment numeric display is shown on a TV (found on the sidewalk!). Over 40 easter egg tracks are revealed when the user enters the magic number. A feature of public art pieces by Formstone Castle is open interactivity. We let the crowd make the rules of how they interact with the piece through an intuitive user interface that they recognize from home.

Team Members: Laura Flamm, Brian Murphy - Concept - Baltimore, MD

Michael Bowman - Formstone Castle Lead Artist - Baltimore, MD

Stephanie Tommasello (DreamScape Designs) - Artist Assistant - Baltimore, MD

Trevor Clifford - Laser Cutting - Baltimore, MD

LG Concannon (LoveGrove) - DJ - Baltimore, MD

Adam T. Rush - DJ - Baltimore, MD

William Hicks (Chillie Willie) - DJ - Baltimore, MD

Ryan Rhodes (DJ Impulse) - DJ - Baltimore, MD

Chip Watkins (DJ Who) - DJ - Baltimore, MD

Onyx Borysewicz - Sound Editing - Baltimore, MD / Montreal, QC