Thanks to the Netflix and Hulu documentaries, everyone is talking about the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival. But unless you were one of the unlucky few who got to experience it, you may be left wondering what it felt like to be there in person. Not to worry, a new pop-up installation lets you live the highs and lows so you don’t have to suffer from FOMO any longer.
The Most Famous Artist, also known as Matty Mo, created “The Fyre Experience” installation so that people can pretend like they lived the Bahamian madness themselves. According to Page Six , Ml’s SelfieCircus open the satirical installation on Wednesday.
Visitors can ride in a fake private jet so that you can take a selfie proving that you’re living the life. Once you “arrive” at the failed festival, you can purchase the “VIP package” and spend the day in a “beach-front” hot tub that sits in front of a cardboard poster of the ocean. The hot tub itself is a shoddy-looking tub filled with Evian bottles.
If you are worried about missing out on the celebrity action, don’t. A Bella Hadid cut-out and Ja Rule impersonator will make you feel like you’re rubbing elbows with the A-list. There may be other celebrity appearances this week, too, Mo said.
“This is a satire and experience meant to drive offline to online engagement. We call this participatory art,” Mo said . “I created the project to ride a cultural wave created by Netflix and Hulu. I hope to show that participatory art is the future of retail.”
On Wednesday, the “festival” even hosted live pigs, a nod to the feral pigs that were used to draw tourists to the area. Pig Island has even become a “trendy” attraction in the Bahamas, and private tours can “command a pretty hefty price tag,” according to one travel consultant. The island has even been the scene of a few reality TV shows.
There’s also a cut-out of the festival’s creator, Billy McFarland, who was sentenced to six years in prison for his part in the botched event. The 26-year-old pleaded guilty to fraud in October.
“I betrayed the trust of investors, family and even the court. I come from an incredible family — a loving environment, they tried to teach me the value of family and friends,” he said at the sentencing.
The false festival was abruptly canceled on Thursday, with Mo announcing that he had ended the experience and fled the country. Of course, this too was a jab at the actual festival, and visitors can come live the satirical fun, complete with a disappointing cheese sandwich, until February 3.
