What does America dream about? 

At IngenuityFest, the answer wasn’t exactly straightforward. 

Instead, visitors could find their way through rooms filled with glowing vintage televisions, interactive sculptures, illuminated landscapes and futuristic technology.

The festival took place Sept. 25-27 at IngenuityLabs in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood.

For Sarah Bene, Ingenuity’s marketing and development coordinator, the theme grew out of a federal grant the organization received and the development of its “Garden of Heroes” exhibit.

“Our mission statement is actually to ignite the creative spark,” Bene said. “I just hope that people realize by coming here and participating in art, that there’s more than just setting up a canvas and buying a set of paints.”

The exhibit highlighted American heroes with ties to Ohio, including astronaut John Glenn and Tuskegee Airman Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Bene said. 

The theme then spread throughout the festival, giving artists room to interpret what “America Dreams” could mean through their own work.

The festival brought together artists working across technology, video, light and interactive art. 

Visitors were encouraged to touch, listen, interact and be a part of the installations themselves. 

On the fourth floor, we encountered “Analog Dreams,” a vaporwave-inspired installation by Cory Sharick featuring 32 CRT televisions. 

“It's a vaporwave-inspired TV wall with 32 CRT TVs, and I guess just trippy video art,” Sharick said. “It's supposed to be interactive where you can turn the knobs and just kind of watch your face melt into the TV screen.”

The screens displayed glitchy video art, but the installation became even more interesting once visitors stepped in front of it. The televisions captured and reflected the people standing in front of them, turning the audience into part of the artwork. 

Visitors could also turn the knobs on the televisions, watching their reflections distort on  the analog display.

The effect made it difficult to tell where the artwork ended and where the viewer began. 

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Sharick said many of the televisions came from Facebook Marketplace, along with other pieces of older technology used throughout the installation. A Raspberry Pi computer powered  the digital components, and an old camcorder was also part of the setup.

For Sharick, part of the appeal of using older technology is the way each piece looks and behaves differently. 

“I think a part of it is just, like, the old cameras, like, the old TVs, they all have different color grading to them,” Sharick said.

Unlike the uniform, high-definition screens people are used to today, the older televisions produced different colors, distortions and imperfections. Sharick said that gave the installation a sense of nostalgia while also making the experience feel unpredictable.

Another artist took a more personal approach to the festival’s theme with “Our House,” a piece by Kylee Nicole Cook of Compact Disco Cleveland.

Cook said she wanted to create a home-like space where people from different walks of life could feel welcome and sit down together.

The piece explores depression, addiction, political issues and Cook’s own interpretation of the American dream.

“For me, it’s very unattainable right now and for so many,” Cook said.

For Cook, that dream is having a big house filled with people. The space reflects that idea while also addressing some of the experiences that have shaped her own life.

A mirror piece featured in “Our House” originally appeared in Cook’s first art installation before she brought it back and reworked it for IngenuityFest. She said the piece gives a voice to people struggling with addiction and depression, including herself.

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“I want to show people that it’s possible to make something dirty and gritty, beautiful, with a few changes in your life,” Cook said.

Cook has been free from alcohol addiction for nearly two years. Through her work, she hopes to show that difficult experiences can become part of a larger story.

The space also became a place for visitors to connect with one another. In a post reflecting on the festival, Cook thanked Ingenuity for giving her the opportunity to share her art, passion and story with visitors.

“DISCO has evolved into storytelling and the story is just getting started,” Cook wrote. She said the festival weekend showed her that the space could become what she imagined, as “strangers became friends” and children played in the “front yard” of “Our House.”

“So Below,” presented by Uncanny Valley Productions, featured an interactive video sculpture involving artist Sobe Lowe and the viewer. The installation encouraged visitors to “look, listen and learn” as they interacted with the work.

“Afterglo,” created by Desiree Dunn, Christi Heartlily and Jim Winter, surrounded visitors with an illuminated environment inspired by Dayglo skies, swamps and crystal cavern galaxies.

The installation was an abbreviated version of a 3,000-square-foot piece created for Brite Winter 2026 at Waterloo. The original installation included work from 30 collaborating artists.

Visitors could also preview “Psybergdosis, 1984,” by Ross Bochnek, an interactive technology demonstration for a forthcoming dystopian escape room. The project imagined a future in which the battle for technology had already been lost.

While the installations varied in style and medium, Bene said the festival’s goal was to leave visitors feeling inspired to create something of their own.

“I feel like art is so important, and I just hope that people realize by coming here and participating in art, that there's more than just setting up a canvas and buying a set of paints,” Bene said.

That idea was visible throughout the festival, where art was not always something to stand back and observe. Visitors could turn knobs, manipulate installations, walk through illuminated environments and become part of the work itself.

Bene, a 2022 Cleveland State University graduate who studied film and media arts and minored in marketing, said her CSU experience helped prepare her for her role at Ingenuity.

She said her background in visual storytelling has been especially useful when telling the stories of an organization that extends beyond its annual festival.

Across the festival, artists used technology, interactive elements and personal stories to show that art can be experienced in many different ways. For those who missed this year’s festival, next year’s Ingenuity Fest will offer another opportunity to explore new ideas, artists and experiences in Cleveland.