Go Pixel Yourself takes flight in Cambridge, MA

In the spirit of Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Museum of Ice Cream in New York City, visual artist turned “pixel-preneur” John Carter unleashed his version of a “selfie museum” at CambridgeSide Mall in late 2020.

But how is GoPixelYourself in Cambridge, Massachusetts different from the other social media experiences popping up across the country?

“We designed GoPixelYourself to appeal to a wider age, gender and style range than many of the others,” Carter said. "It's definitely more than just selfies. We think of it more as a Broadway show with more than a dozen set changes and you're the star.”

With 13 different rooms and 9 million pixels, or the units making up a digital image, the museum produces an interactive, entertaining experience for visitors with an Instagramable twist— using motion-activated technology to take photos and videos that guests can take home.

“While we were designing it, we kept asking ourselves: would a girl like this room?
Would a guy like this room? What about their dad or grandma?” Carter said. “We wanted this to be the Hamilton of shopping malls.”

GoPixelYourself reopened Valentine’s Day weekend, after initially opening last November, boasting features such as a movie set and a Boeing 747 in 12,000 square feet of space and 4,000 feet of video wall. The experience was created by Parker 3D, a technology-driven design team based out of New Jersey.

Carter weighs in on his inspiration for Boston’s version of the “selfie museum” experience, hurdles faced opening a business during Covid, and making his artistic vision accessible to everyone.

Q: As someone who has been a visual artist for many years, how has GoPixelYourself allowed you to showcase your work as an artist?
Carter: Because of these crazy computers we carry in our pockets now which are also magnificent cameras, and the social media that has sprung up around them, I've been able to take a very wide range of genres that I have participated in over the last 35 years and pack them all into an Instagrammable place.

Q: Why Boston?
A: I lived here for many years in an artist loft in Fort Point Channel and my family history on both sides dates back to the beginnings of Boston. In fact, I have transcripts of a witch trial in my family. I have since moved to New York City, but there are lots of different kinds of selfie museums in New York City and I thought it would be fun to do one in my old hometown where there were none

Q: Why the name GoPixelYourself?
A: We were trying to deconstruct the meaning of digital photography and pixelated video screens and also daydreaming about the Beatles song Lucy in the sky with diamonds. You know, "pixel yourself on a boat on a river ..

Also wanted something memorable and with a certain amount of attitude. If we pixel the word pixel, maybe it's: go do something else to yourself. Once I figured out the name and typed it into the search engines, I actually couldn't believe it wasn't already out there.

Q: And while we're at it, what exactly is GoPixelYourself?
A: It's a 13 room video art installation which I would consider a high-tech playground for people of all ages. It has 11 automated cameras that add augmented effects. These photos are programmed to create a special personalized website for each visitor.
It's like Times Square got crammed into the anchor store in a mall.

Q: How do you envision the space at CambridgeSide Mall evolving over the months?
A: The beautiful thing is, we don't know. What we do know is that it’s designed to be changing all the time. We didn't wanna build something that people experienced only once. Because of the 20 giant video walls, we can change out content every week if we want to. We did a giant project for DreamWorks and also continue to do the ideo windows at Bloomingdales and learn how to create content quickly and change it remotely.

Ultimately, we have dreams of getting local artists involved in creating content for the rooms, maybe have an MIT versus Harvard face-off in two different rooms etc. We also are daydreaming about a concert series. The video screens make great backgrounds for performers and the audience could be on the other side of the glass watching them perform like they were in a New York City department store window.

Q: You did the unthinkable which was to open a business during a pandemic. What have been some of the hurdles with Covid along the way?
A: To be clear, this was not our intention. We signed the lease and everything shut down a few weeks later. So, we've invested millions of dollars into this public genre and there's no public.
We pivoted really well though, as we had time to remotely design ways to make this a safe activity for very small groups. We had a ball pit designed in at one time, which went away. Our cameras were originally touch activated, so we created the QR code system that we use now, which is really quite cool! We have taken the safety quite seriously and in fact have tried to have fun with it. The sterilizer gun is really quite buck Rogers like! We keep all guests only in the groups they arrive with and we keep an empty room between all groups which is being sterilized between uses.

Q: What's next for GoPixelYourself? Will there be franchised versions of the experience at other malls across the country?
A: There will definitely be more. We have not even marketed this to anyone, and have proposals out to almost a dozen developers who are interested in hosting us. We also see the genre expanding into other areas, like a clothing line, or a pop-up within other retail environments, or a restaurant, or a TV show etc.

Q. Anything else?
A: My favorite things growing up were art, rock concerts and shopping malls. So there you have it.

VIDEO CLIP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXlPa-u-OSQ

For more information, visit GoPixelYourself.com