Madeline Fried

At Urban Putt San Jose, I built out the environment for the immersive mini golf course. I sculpted a large portion of the stony mountain structure that unites the whole course from foam and vertical cement.

I painted the submarine hole with a treatment to make the wood and PVC structure appear to be weathered steel and brass.

I created the hole Escape Velocity in its entirety. Escape Velocity is a pachinko-like outer space themed game where a ball is launched with a “space elevator” pulley system into orbit and bounces through the stars. The “gravity well” ball catcher sits at the middle of the game board, and the player can redirect the course of the ball for the best score. There are two near-identical boards, mirroring each other, to allow for more throughput on the course. I created a ball launcher, similar to a strongman game, but this design was reworked to be more accessible to players of different physical ability. I designed and constructed the entire game, and hand painted the UV space scene.

Finale piece for the San Jose Winchester’s Mystery House Halloween haunt, under the direction of Scott Levkoff.

Designed and painted trompe l’oeil monster on multiple pieces of hanging plywood. Painting activated with projection mapped details.

Lead Artist for Big Tiny Tarot Tent.

The Big Tiny Tarot Tent is a mystical cartomancy experience designed to encourage exploration and synchronicity.

There are two distinct but connected spaces. On one side, participants receive a surreal one-on-one tarot reading from a living doll, animated by a human. On the other side, there is a dome, where anyone may enter, relax, explore a large collection of different tarot decks, and step into the role of the living doll on the other side.

Lead Artist for Alien Drive-Thru.

Aliens have observed that humans frequently communicate via large glowing structures, covered in photos of food.

To establish peaceful relations, the aliens have built a similar structure, and placed it among humans they believe are especially receptive to First Contact.

Alien Drive-Thru is an immersive and interactive installation, first landing at Burning Man 2022 for Episode 1 in a narrative arc.

It seeks to challenge the common narrative in sci-fi and pop culture that alien contact spells inevitable doom and destruction. Through the interface of an instantly recognizable fixture, Alien Drive-Thru creates an intimate immersive experience exploring cross-cultural communication, xenophobia, paranormal phenomena, and what it means to be human.

The drive-thru menu board is constructed with reclaimed aluminum extrusion and aluminum composite panels. The screens include 2 televisions that play videos from the aliens as they are speaking with the participant through the intercom. The other displays are lenticular imagery, showing an ever-shifting menu of foods the aliens believe to be enticing for humans. The images of food are collages of computer generated imagery.

The colors and effects of the LED neon sign, along with color-changing flood lights and other sound effects, are also triggered to change during conversation with participants.

Participants engage with the aliens by ordering through the intercom, and sent to a second location to pick up their order.

Alien Drive-Thru at Burning Man 2022 was entirely solar-powered with an array built from salvaged panels & materials. It was transported to the Black Rock Desert by electric vehicle.

For the second iteration of this project, we built a full-scale commercial kitchen from which we served actual food, and initiated participants to work in the kitchen in a separate “indoctrination room”. The two additional rooms allowed us to create 1-on-1, unique, intimate experiences with participants.

Illustrator, construction, and brewing for Chu Chug.

The world suffered a beer drought when monocropped barley & wheat collapsed in the 2040s, thanks to the spread of Palmer’s pigweed (Amaranthus palmeri), which overwhelmed the most advanced herbicides.

Pigweed seeds were the perfect substrate for alcohol-producing symbiotic kin to thrive on. Once the beloved moonshine of 2070s ag-squatters, Chu Chug is now widely available for casual consumption.

Previously only available at Awful’s Gas & Snack, Chu Chug is available for sale at Val-U-Mart, located inside ProArts Gallery in Oakland in January 2020. It is currently installed, better photos to come.

Chu Chug display is comprised of a repurposed lighted beer sign, a plywood display case, and 48 glass bottles filled with fermented amaranth & tropical fruit juices.

Chu Chug was made in collaboration with Matthew Gerring, Fabian Toro, and Sam Fz.

Production Designer for Awful’s Gas & Snack.

Awful’s Gas and Snack is an immersive art installation that premiered at Burning Man 2019 that showcases a positive vision of one possible future using a variety of narrative elements. Its aim is to radically expand people’s sense of possibility and provoke both a curiosity about how we might achieve such a future and a desire to make it happen.

Awful’s Gas and Snack is a gas station and mini-mart, set in the year 2120, well after gas stations are no longer needed. One of the last gas stations has been restored and serves as a museum about our time.

As people come near to Awful’s and begin to interact with its elements – appreciate the design, read the signs, press buttons on the gas pump, listen to the radio station, or ask the attendant for snacks – they gradually realize that it is set a century in the future. The mini-mart provides participants many ways to explore the world of Awful’s and invites them to imagine themselves as a character in 2120. An employee break room serves as a way to expose the direct reality of 2120 to today’s visitors, as well as revealing narrative elements about the characters who own and run Awful’s.

Awful’s was set ablaze on August 30th, 2019 in a ritual & performance to call in the end to fossil fuel consumption.

Awful’s was constructed of primarily salvaged materials, and was transported to Black Rock City in part by electric vehicle. It was run off of a beautiful solar system contributed by Occidental Power Solar Company.

Awful’s was rebuilt as a smaller sequel for operation at Planet Home in San Francisco in September 2019.

Awful’s Gas & Snack by Matthew Gerring & Crank Factory.

Painter for El Gato Espumoso, in collaboration with Matthew Gerring.

El Gato Espumoso is an LED neon sign made for the short film Comin’ in Hot (2023).

It is the sign for the fictional car wash that is the centerpiece of the film’s finale. The stars are animated lights. The sign is designed to be hoisted high to cover the real sign of the car wash being filmed.

Examples of my graphic design and digital illustration work created in Procreate, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fusion360.

Sgraffito glazeware fish plates in low fire clay.

Ceramicist and performer for Triangle Water.

Three ceramic & rope drinking vessels for Triangle Water.

Triangle Water is a fictional brand of luxury, pH balanced drinking water, along with its own multi-level marketing style of distribution, created inside of a larger immersive narrative for a private client.

Marketing pitches of Triangle Water involved three ambassadors, donning mysterious triangular metal costumes, offering samples from the unique vessels, and enticing customers to join their “downspout” and become Triangle Water ambassadors themselves by purchasing an initial 333 vessels for 33 payments of $66.66.

Triangle Water was conceived of and performed in collaboration with Jeanette Conley, Abraham Finkelstein, Matthew Gerring, Martin MacKerel, and Laurus Myth.

Custom murals for a private residence in collaboration with Nathan Britton. Original designs in acrylic paint.

Various experimental screenprints on hand-dyed fabric & paper exploring loopy and knotted creatures.

These companion pieces explore the intricacies of the inner human body. Inspired by Ernst Haeckel's exploded illustrations of flora and fauna, the internal organs and major arteries & veins of the female body are mapped out in the embroidered tapestry at a larger than life scale. The 6'x8' tapestry is illustrated in dense chainstitches with accents of acrylic paint on linen. The bronze piece zooms out a layer to show the musculature of the body. Working from the skeleton outward, the flayed ecorche was made using references from scientific illustrations as well as real cadavers at Hahnemann Hospital. The execution for both pieces includes many flourishes and exaggerations beyond a literal depiction of the body. Both drew inspiration from fantastic old medical illustrations that stand in contrast to the stiff, rigid, digital diagrams that are often used today.

Delicate hand embroideries on cotton of mythical cockatrices.

Safety Net (2015) is an oversized (14'x8') hammock made out of satin award ribbons that are fastened together with brass jumprings. The text on the candy colored ribbons span from "Champion" to "Participant". This piece was created as a commentary on the Pennsylvania Academy of Art’s 200 year old tradition of awarding Spring Prizes, a yearly competition where students' work is subjected to an opaque judging process in the hopes of receiving significant cash prizes. The process is known among the student body & faculty to breed a lot of hostility and judgement. Safety Net was entered into the 2015 competition for Spring Prizes and was awarded an Honorable Mention for the Alexander Prize.

Emergency Blanket is a quilt made from mylar survival blankets. The teddy is made from repurposed heavy duty packaging material.

MAW is a single room installation created in 2014 about the inside of a body, the "belly of the beast". With a two-step entrance that prevents any outside light from seeping in, the only light in the space comes from the small red flickers all around. This darkness eliminates depth perception and warps the sense of scale in the installation. The room is warm and damp, thanks to a hidden heater and humidifier. There is a loud ambient bellow emanating from hidden speakers. The pulsating lights on the floor are a part of a malleable surface that can be laid down on. The dangling lights are contained inside soft fabric sleeves that are all united by an overhanging canopy, so when one is bumped into, the rest will respond and move. The feeling inside the MAW is dark and unnerving, but at the same time it is comforting and womb-like. I slept in it for several nights. Score composed by Christopher Edwards.

Oversized pleather & steel hardware bondage gear created for the fountain at Logan Square in Philadelphia.

The Cries of San Francisco is a project by Allison Smith in collaboration with Southern Exposure that invokes the historic tradition of street peddlers hawking their wares with melodic songs and calls as a means of offering up social revelations on the temporal employments, habits, and callings of nearly 70 Bay Area artists, craftspeople, and other urban workers. The Cries of San Francisco takes the form of a public art event centered around Mint Plaza, a sculptural installation and a series of events at Southern Exposure and a publication chronicling the project.

Madeline Fried & Bryce Hidysmith built and operated a very compact time machine that delivered users artifacts from the past and future.

Various oil on canvas paintings exploring the body & flesh.