Where I End & You Begin is a synchronized immersive theater piece for two people, created for and at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). What first appears to be an audio tour of its campus and its history as a former textile factory becomes into a poignant meditation on connection and how we build identity through the people and environment around us.

The 85-minute audiowalk weaves participants through multiple MoCA galleries and buildings before expanding into an outdoor setting for the final minutes of the work. Throughout the piece, a narrating voice that might be your own thoughts – or another presence – gently guides you and your companion through the show route while a site-responsive soundscore runs underneath the action.

Over the course of the show, participants become companions, secret-holders, witnesses, and partners in ritual with one another as they explore both the history between them and with the historic spaces and landscape around them. While the show centers the two participants, the Museum's galleries, 19th century buildings, and ecological history of the Hoosic River – whose branches converge on this site – become fellow characters in the work.

Built with ECHOES Creator, this work relies on a synchronized and intimate experience between the two participants. Their experiences are seamlessly connected through a bespoke Echoes app that tethers your devices to one another while utilizing locative audio en route, allowing for the buildings and grounds to come to life. By moving through these spaces in synchronous but separate experiences, participants go on a guided journey that connects them in novel and surprising ways. This human connection transforms the work from two meditative audiowalks into a dynamic, live work of immersive theater.

As immersive theater makers, we see this work as a means to re-lensing the world through a shared sense of awe with one another. This reflects our belief that technology – when kept in relationship with the physical world – can be used to bring people together through art and shared experiences. In this spirit, the work is highly-accessible: we record works in mono audio for those with limited hearing, use comfortable, over-ear headphones that accommodate hearing aids, provide stair-free routes, and ensure all travel is on wheelchair-friendly surfaces and grades. Company-owned hardware ensures equity and ease of equipment for users. While the work is at a ticketed Museum, the work has been made free for non-ticket holders at regular intervals across the year.