Chinook Blast 2025 presents “Phenomena” in partnership with Telus Spark

By Hannah Caparino, March 26 2025—

Chinook Blast 2025 is Calgary’s annual winter festival that celebrates all things art, music, and more. Part of the festival this year was multiple art displays, theatre shows and recreational sport activities. The festival worked in association with local artists and organizations to bring fun all around the city during the coldest months of the year. Chinook Blast partnered with Telus Spark to present the “Phenomena” exhibit which features optical illusions and mind-bending activities. Since the exhibit’s launch on January 19, Telus Spark has been welcoming visitors and guests of all ages to experience the exhibit.

“Phenomena” was brought to Calgary through collaboration with the help of companies like Hereleb and Dala Projects to provide technical and design services for the exhibit. The main goal of the exhibit was to combine education and entertainment, allowing visitors to learn about how optical illusions are created through a variety of interactive activities and displays.

Illusions like the “Anti-Gravity Water” and “The Wonder Machine” use light to create an effect that allows objects to defy the rules of nature. For the “Anti-Gravity Water”, water is dropping while there are LED lights being used and lighting up at a specific frequency to make it seem like the water is either still floating in mid-air or flowing upwards. “The Wonder Machine” works in a similar manner where the use of lights and vibration makes an illusion that the feather is moving in slow motion, or that it can be split into two different objects and vibrating into one feather again.

There are also rooms where people can take photos and explore how perception and angles would create illusions that can confuse the mind. Sections like the “Ames Room” and the “Zero Gravity Room” were incredibly popular because they were an opportunity to photograph the illusion and physically be in the space and figure out how the illusion worked. The “Ames Room” was interesting as the room itself had a slant in the floor and the back wall was angled inwards towards the right. The construction of the room created the picture of one person being significantly smaller than the other if they stand at opposite corners of the room, despite the room being perceived as symmetrical from the outside. The “Zero Gravity Room” carefully places objects on the walls and ceiling to make it seem like attendees are defying gravity, Inception-style, by sitting or standing at specific parts of the room when the photo is oriented from a regular perspective.

While the exhibit highlights all the illusions, one of the attractions that garnered the most attention was the “Mirror Maze”, as people would navigate the confusing turns and twists to see the mirrors produce a disorienting reaction. While people would gravitate towards the maze, the “Vortex” was also something that visitors would walk through and experience a spinning optical illusion by the use of lights and motion.

The exhibit uses light effects to create some of the mentioned illusions and may create discomfort for attendees. If individuals are susceptible to changing light frequencies and strobing, consider these factors prior to buying tickets. 

“Phenomena” will be featured till March 26 and more information can be found on the Telus Spark website. Tickets are available here.