Fill out the form to get in touch.
Portland Winter Light FestivalWhispering Wishes
Immersive Experience
Bringing Big Dreams To Life With The Smallest Sound
When the mid-winter gloom settles over Portland, the city needs a reason to look up. For our fifth year at the Portland Winter Light Festival, we wanted to create a community beacon. We drew on our history of building immersive worlds – like Portal to the Stars, Portal to the Deep, and Light Up the Lawn, Light Up a Life – to create a true symbol of hope.
Whispering Wishes is an immersive experience based on the “discovery” and restoration of The Wish Amplifier: a ten-foot-tall “mid-century” relic designed to transform the quiet intention of a single wish into a tangible experience. As wishes were whispered, the 'Wish Amplifier' became a glowing force for good. It was a reminder that our individual dreams breathe life into our shared collective, proving that during winter’s darkest stretch, the light is something we can create in the present, together.
Through our “research,” we discovered the artifact was crafted by a local collective of witches, adepts, and mystics following their successful levitation of the Pentagon in 1967. The relic’s goal was to amplify positive energy by harvesting the smallest measure of human intention: wishes. By crafting a narrative of the installation as a restoration project in our secret lab, we built weeks of digital anticipation before the festival began.
This video introduced the cinematic backstory behind Whispering Wishes. By pivoting from standard promotional messaging to an immersive narrative, the campaign connected the art of the build with the impact of the experience. Across social channels, the promo ignited high engagement by inviting the community into the heart of the creative process.
A Symphony of Light and Sound
Designed as a vintage artifact from light-diffusing textiles, LEDs, and upcycled parts, the structure occupied a compact 4x4 footprint.
Designed as a vintage artifact from light-diffusing textiles, LEDs and upcycled parts, the structure stood as a ten-foot centerpiece, illuminated by hundreds of LEDs that anchored the space. To give the magic room to travel, we positioned the input station a short distance away, using wayfinding to intuitively guide visitors through the adventure. The journey followed a three-step cycle of transformation:
1. Whisper: Visitors approach a vintage microphone as the monument pulses with light, humming with a symphony of fragments from other wishes, the clicking and whirring of vintage computers, and even local radio interference from 1967. Here, they are invited to step into the mystery, adding their own whispers to the machine’s evolving psyche.
2. Listen: In a state of focused listening, the machine deconstructs each voice whispered into a swarm of audio fragments that merge into a living collage of sound. As the audio fragments melt into one another, a surge of light streaks from the microphone to the monument—the physical manifestation of a wish traveling through the dark.
3. Watch: As the low hum gets louder, the individual wish is returned as a soaring, bright pulse of light. Transforming a small whisper into an expression of the city's collective voice, Whispering Wishes creates a bright link between Portland’s storied past and its vibrant present.
Small Things, Big Impact
The more wishes the amplifier received, the brighter it glowed, creating a direct connection between the individual and their community. Over the course of the festival (February 6–14), the Wish Amplifier became a high-traffic destination at the World Trade Center:
- Impact: We're proud to have played a part in hosting over 262,000 festival attendees, contributing over $10M in economic impact.
- Engagement: Our "found artifact" story turned social followers into active participants who were invested in the experience before the gates opened.
- Resonance: We turned a corporate plaza into a place of magic, blending ambient sounds and pulsing lights into a shared moment.
- Story: We proved that technology, when wrapped in a compelling chronicle, becomes a tool for genuine human connection.
