Unveiling the Laboratory of Stories: Nordo's 2023 Odyssey
The Culinarium in Pioneer Square. 2015-2023.
Our adventures of 2023 began by shutting down our beloved Nordo location in Pioneer Square. We took it apart bit by bit, sold some of it off, gave some of it away, and put some of it in storage for a later day. That space had served us well for 8 years, and it was an honor to be a part of that community. And, with that, one door closed.
But another door appeared. Unsure where it would lead we opened it with some trepidation. It opened onto a room of bookshelves and desks and cabinets and multiple other doors of all types. It glowed in a pale moonlight passing through a skylight. A few yellowed desk lamps scattered about the room provided the only light.
And the exploration of something new began.
Within the first cabinet were pictures of Seattle buildings taped to the inside of the doors. Some industrial shells in SODO, a brewery in Ballard, a church turned event space in West Seattle, a bank on 3rd Avenue. There were real estate contracts, investment papers, transcripts of long conversations with real estate lawyers, and “how to buy real estate” books in mostly organized piles.
Through a steel door we found ourselves on the streets of Los Angeles where we infiltrated and reported on the NEXT Immersive Summit . We met individuals pushing the boundaries of storytelling and learned about this immersive wave of entertainment sweeping the country. And while there we jumped into Hatch Escapes to prove to rats that humans were intelligent too.
A wardrobe led to New York City, specifically to an asylum where we partnered with a demon to escape before patrolling the halls of the McKittrick Hotel in search of answers. Sadly, the doors to the hotel will be locked at the end of the year as “Sleep No More” finally closes after a 12-year run. This one production single handedly inspired a generation of artists to work in the immersive sphere. We were there in 2010 as well and carried away a bit of their magic then.
After exploring from coast to coast, we sat at a desk covered and stuffed with papers, photos, and folders. The desktop could not be found, and the drawers could not be closed.
Scraps of paper contained snippets of dreams woven together into stories. A tome called the Book of Findings contained a table of contents and an appendix but nothing else. It was awaiting to be filled. Dossiers described ominous character descriptions and incriminating photos. It all appeared disparate on the surface, but it seemed to be from the same world. Was someone building something? A new world of stories?
In a cabinet over the desk was a projector and reels of silent film telling the tale of a Daydream Machine in 8mm. These we shared on Instagram.
We paused to take in everything we had discovered.
One last door caught our attention. Dark grey with embossed stars how could we have not noticed it before. A soft green glow emanated from beneath it. The door knob brass and heavy.
The door clicked closed. Footsteps echoed. The ceiling hid in the shadows. There was a low, soft thumping sound. And there, in the center of the room on a round green table, illuminated by a single spot:
We had found the Laboratory of Stories. And in 2024 we will provide you a map so that you too can find the Laboratory of Stories. There will be events in which we explore the Laboratory together and discover a whole new world of dreams. And if we are lucky, we will find the portal to this world and open it.
Thank you for coming with us on our 2023 journey. Please join us in 2024.