# ARTECHOUSE: How an Immersive Art Space Stays Open for Years

> ARTECHOUSE is an immersive art-and-technology venue founded in 2015 by Sandro Kereselidze and Tatiana Pastukhova. Its Washington, D.C. space opened in June 2017, followed by New York in 2019 and Houston in 2024. It has lasted by keeping the room and its projection and sound systems fixed, and changing the exhibition several times a year.

**Published:** 2026-11-10 - **By:** MLABART

## What is ARTECHOUSE?

ARTECHOUSE is a venue for art made with technology. It was founded in 2015 by Sandro Kereselidze and Tatiana Pastukhova, and its first permanent space opened in Washington, D.C. in June 2017. Each location is a large dark room where projection covers the walls and floor and sound comes from all sides, with smaller galleries and a bar around it.

Many immersive exhibitions tour for a few months and close. ARTECHOUSE has kept permanent rooms open for years, which makes it a useful case for anyone planning a long-running immersive space. MLABART was not involved in ARTECHOUSE; this article describes it from published sources.

| Location | Opened | Building | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Washington, D.C. -- 1238 Maryland Ave SW | June 2017 | An underground retail space that had been vacant for over 25 years | Wikipedia; ARTECHOUSE website |
| Miami Beach -- Collins Avenue | December 2018 | No longer listed among current locations on the ARTECHOUSE website | Wikipedia; ARTECHOUSE website |
| New York -- 439 W 15th Street, Chelsea Market | September 2019 | A 100-year-old boiler room beneath the market | Mix; ARTECHOUSE website |
| Houston -- 600 W 6th Street, The Heights | 2024 | 26,000 square feet | ARTECHOUSE website |

- [ARTECHOUSE -- About](https://www.artechouse.com/about/)
- [Wikipedia -- Artechouse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artechouse)

## How does it keep the same room fresh?

The room stays and the show changes. ARTECHOUSE says it has presented more than 30 exhibitions with over 40 artists since it was founded. In Washington alone, Wikipedia lists eight openings between June 2017 and October 2018, about one every two months in the first year and a half.

Three habits make that rotation possible:

- Guest artists and an in-house studio. Early shows came from outside artists such as Adrien M & Claire B (XYZT, 2017), NONOTAK (Naked Eyes, 2018) and Julius Horsthuis (Fractal Worlds, 2018). ARTECHOUSE also runs its own creative and production studio and names In Peak Bloom, Submerge and Life of a Neuron among its in-house works.
- Shows move between venues. XYZT opened in Washington in June 2017 and in Miami in December 2018. In November 2026 the same exhibition, Twilight Zone: Hidden Wonders of the Ocean, was listed in both New York and Houston.
- Seasonal returns. The website lists a holiday special opening in early December at each location for a limited run.

- ![General-principle diagram of a rotating immersive venue, drawn by MLABART. The top row changes with each show: content (films, real-time visuals and soundtrack), interaction (what visitors can touch, move or trigger), extras (themed drinks, an AR layer, shop, events) and story (title, partner, season and marketing). The bottom row stays for years: the room (walls, floor, pillars, blackout, visitor route), projection (projectors, mounts, lenses, alignment and blending), sound (speakers, amplifiers, spatial audio processor) and control (media servers, network, schedules, monitoring). The fixed layer is paid for once; each new show pays only for the top row. This is general practice, not a description of any venue's internal systems.](https://mlabart.com/insights/artechouse-immersive-art-space-how-it-runs/fixed-and-changing-layers.svg)

## What technology is in the New York room?

The New York space was reported in detail by the trade press when it opened in September 2019 with Machine Hallucination by Refik Anadol. These figures describe the room at opening; the venue may have changed equipment since.

- Projection covers the architecture. Mapping onto pillars as well as walls means the old boiler room's structure becomes part of the picture instead of an obstacle.
- Sound is placed in space. With speakers around and above the audience, a sound can be positioned and moved through the room, so the audio follows the picture.

| System | As reported in 2019 | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Projection | Barco laser projection at 16K resolution, 150 megapixels, mapped to every wall and pillar | Mix; AV Network |
| Loudspeakers | 20 L-Acoustics X8 around the perimeter, 10 smaller 5XT overhead and two SB15m subwoofers, driven by six LA4X amplifiers | Mix |
| Spatial audio | L-Acoustics L-ISA; AV Network reports 32 separate channels | AV Network |

- [Mix -- NYC's ARTECHOUSE gets immersive underground (23 October 2019)](https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/nycs-artechouse-gets-immersive-underground)
- [AV Network -- ARTECHOUSE NYC inaugural installation to feature Refik Anadol (12 August 2019)](https://avnetwork.com/news/artechouse-nyc-inaugural-installation-to-feature-digital-artist-refik-anadol)

## How does it earn from each visit?

Admission is sold in timed sessions, and the visit is extended with things to do after the main room:

- Timed tickets. In Houston, general admission starts at US$30 and sessions last 90 minutes; New York recommends at least 60-75 minutes (ARTECHOUSE website, read 10 November 2026).
- An augmented-reality bar. ARTECHOUSE runs an XR Bar powered by its own XR app; in Washington, after-hours visitors can buy an augmented-reality cocktail inspired by the exhibition.
- An app that outlasts the visit. ARTECHOUSE counts over 1.7 million visitors and XR app users together, and reports 150 XR activations.
- Free work alongside ticketed work. In Houston, Time & Tide by Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee was listed as free to experience next to the ticketed exhibition.

- [ARTECHOUSE -- Houston](https://www.artechouse.com/location/houston/)
- [ARTECHOUSE -- New York](https://www.artechouse.com/location/nyc/)
- [ARTECHOUSE -- Washington, D.C.](https://www.artechouse.com/location/dc/)

## What can a permanent brand or museum space learn from it?

These are general planning points drawn from the model, not ARTECHOUSE's own advice:

- Separate the fixed layer from the changing layer. Buy projection, sound and control once, to a standard that will carry several years of shows, and budget each new show as content only.
- Choose the room for its limits. Old industrial rooms are dark, tall and free of windows, which is what projection needs. Pillars and odd walls can be mapped.
- Set a rotation rhythm before opening. A room with one show has one reason to visit. Decide how many shows a year the budget supports and who makes them.
- Build for content you have not commissioned yet. Standard media servers, documented pixel maps and a speaker layout that any sound designer can address let outside artists deliver into the room.
- Plan daily operation. A permanent room needs scheduled power on and off, remote monitoring, spare lamps or laser modules, and staff who can fix first-line faults.
- Give visitors a second thing to do. A bar, a shop, an app layer or a free gallery lengthens the visit and gives a reason to return between shows.
- Let shows travel. If more than one venue shares the same technical standard, a show made for one can open in another.

- [MLABART -- DATALAND in Los Angeles: how the Museum of AI Arts builds a responsive space](https://mlabart.com/insights/dataland-los-angeles-ai-art-museum-immersive-space/)
- [MLABART -- Building an immersive projection space](https://mlabart.com/insights/immersive-projection-space-installation-guide/)

## What has MLABART built that runs day after day?

MLABART builds interactive installations for brands, stores and exhibitions. Three projects show the same concern with running reliably over time, at a smaller scale:

- A permanent store installation. For the NBA Macao Flagship Store at The Londoner Macao, opened on 11 October 2025, MLABART built an interactive basketball court with an LED wall, an LED half-court floor, scoring and a monthly leaderboard, and a rapid-reaction wall. The installations run as part of the store, and the leaderboard gives players a reason to come back.
- Scheduled daily operation. For Starbucks' "A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains" activation, three laser projectors were edge-blended onto a terrain model with scheduled daily startup and shutdown around store hours. The project ran for 45 days.
- Long hours without faults. At Rolex's "Oyster Story" exhibition at the West Bund Dome in Shanghai (10-28 June 2026), MLABART's kinetic sculpture ran about 10 hours a day for 19 days with no reported faults.

- [MLABART -- NBA Macao Flagship Store case study](https://mlabart.com/work/nba-flagship-store-londoner-macao/)
- [MLABART -- Starbucks case study](https://mlabart.com/work/starbucks-a-thousand-li/)
- [MLABART -- Rolex Oyster Story case study](https://mlabart.com/work/rolex-oyster-story/)

- ![MLABART's interactive basketball court in the NBA Macao Flagship Store at The Londoner Macao, with an LED wall and an LED half-court floor.](https://mlabart.com/cases/nba-flagship-store-londoner-macao.jpg)
- ![MLABART's mirror-polished stainless-steel kinetic sculpture at Rolex's "Oyster Story" exhibition at the West Bund Dome, Shanghai.](https://mlabart.com/cases/rolex-oyster-story.jpg)

## Sources

Facts about ARTECHOUSE come from its website (read 10 November 2026), Wikipedia, and 2019 trade reports in Mix and AV Network, as cited in each section. Technical figures describe the New York room at its 2019 opening. Counts of exhibitions, artists and visitors are ARTECHOUSE's own. Planning points are general practice. MLABART projects are described from project records.


## FAQ

### What is ARTECHOUSE and where are its locations?

ARTECHOUSE is an immersive art-and-technology venue founded in 2015 by Sandro Kereselidze and Tatiana Pastukhova. Its website lists three locations: Washington, D.C. (opened June 2017), New York in Chelsea Market (September 2019) and Houston (2024). A Miami Beach space opened in December 2018 and is no longer listed.

### How has ARTECHOUSE stayed open for years?

It keeps the room and its projection and sound systems fixed and changes the exhibition. ARTECHOUSE reports more than 30 exhibitions with over 40 artists, made by guest artists and its in-house studio. Shows also move between its venues, and seasonal specials return each year.

### What projection and sound does ARTECHOUSE New York use?

At its September 2019 opening, trade press reported Barco laser projection at 16K resolution and 150 megapixels mapped to every wall and pillar, and an L-Acoustics L-ISA spatial audio system with 20 X8 perimeter speakers, 10 5XT overhead speakers and two SB15m subwoofers.

### What should a brand plan for a permanent immersive space?

Separate the fixed layer (room, projection, sound, control) from the changing layer (content), set a rotation rhythm before opening, build to standards outside artists can deliver into, plan daily operation and spares, and give visitors a second thing to do such as a bar, shop or app layer.



## Related Pages

**See also:** [Immersive Art Exhibitions](https://mlabart.com/solutions/immersive-exhibitions/) | [Projection Mapping](https://mlabart.com/solutions/projection-mapping/) | [Digital Exhibition Halls & Showrooms](https://mlabart.com/solutions/digital-exhibition-halls/) | [Light Art & Audiovisual Installations](https://mlabart.com/solutions/light-art-installations/)

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**MLABART** -- Interaction - Imagination - Innovation

MLABART is an interactive installation and interactive software development studio. We design, program and deliver interactive installations -- motion-sensing games, touch and AI experiences, interactive LED walls, projection mapping, naked-eye 3D and kinetic sculptures -- for mall and New Year's Eve countdown campaigns, trade-show booths and launches, and brand pop-ups, from concept and custom software through fabrication and on-site delivery.

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