Kollide: A Collaborative, Kaleidoscopic, Audiovisual Installation
Fri. July 3, 2026 - Sun. July 5, 2026
Open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. - closed on July 4
See venue for admission details
Accessibility
Check the location link for venue accessibility details.
Disability Accommodations
Requests with 24 hours or more notice before the event are appreciated. Western is an Equal Opportunity Institution.
- Campus Parking: Parking Services
- Off-Campus location: Contact the venue
- On-Campus location: CFPA Publicity 360-650-2829, cfpa.publicity@wwu.edu
This collaborative, audiovisual installation brings together 17 artists from WWU’s Art & Art History and Music Departments. Each has produced an original animation in response to a specific section of Kaleidoscope, a flute choir composition by WWU student composer Anna Mitchell.
"Kollide" features over 50 individual artworks from 30 participating student artists configured in a room-sized multichannel audiovisual installation.
The animations were then interpreted by six composers from Western’s Electroacoustic Music Studio class, resulting in 17 additional, original music videos. Presented simultaneously across multiple surfaces within the Lightcatcher gallery, the videos and musical works are recombined into a single artwork.
Visitors are invited to move about the installation and experience the shifting perspectives available at every turn.
This experiential pop-up installation runs Friday, July 3, and Sunday, July 5. July 3 is a Free Friday at the Museum.
The Whatcom Museum will be closed Saturday, July 4.
Development of Kollide
In fall quarter of 2025 of last year, Peter Rand's Time Based Art class took over a 2000 square foot downtown property on loan from Daylight properties.
The class presented a suite of interactive projection-based sculptures and dual channel video works that were integrated into a sleep themed installation - complete with a banquet table where they served Sleepytime tea and refreshments. The Education Manager from Whatcom Museum attended the fall 2025 event and reached out to coordinate the pop-up in July 2026.
The students in Experimental Animation enthusiastically accepted this challenge. They focused heavily on the history and practice of “visual music” as a method for producing work for the July 2026 exhibition. WWU Band Director Paul Bain put the Art class in touch with student composer Anna Mitchell, whose original music served as the foundation for our experiments. WWU Professor of Composition Bruce Hamilton additionally facilitated a collaboration with his Electroacoustic Music Studio class.
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