A digital rendering of one of the installations at the OPUS 1 festival, taking place on Saturday at Merriweather Post Pavilion (Image by Wild Dogs International).

Inflatable air pavilions and immersive art installations aren’t exactly the first thing that come to mind when envisioning the suburbs, but they are exactly the sorts of things that will populate a cutting-edge festival on the grounds of Merriweather Post Pavilion on Saturday

The city of Columbia, Md., one of the country’s first fully planned townships, has been celebrating its 50th anniversary all year. Amid the celebrations, it is reckoning with its place in the 21st century, an era when walkable communities and social-media friendly experiences have replaced the ideal of the orderly American suburb.

Day-long events earlier this year focused on Columbia’s past and present, and the city also hosted a literary festival and a concert commemorating Merriweather Post Pavilion‘s 50th anniversary. But it is the flashy, multi-media arts event OPUS 1 that will serve as the piece de resistance, and a sign of how Columbia sees its future.

The Howard Hughes Corporation is playing a major role in this year-long celebration, and it is also the developer that is redesigning 400 acres of Columbia’s town center.

“One of the things we’d like to do is to create downtown Columbia as a regional hub for cultural commerce,” said Vanessa Rodriguez, marketing director at the Howard Hughes Corporation. “Columbia was voted the number one small city in the country, but the one thing it’s missing is a true core. The Howard Hughes Corporation is trying to change the perception of Columbia from a sleepy suburb to a place with a thriving downtown.”

For OPUS 1, the Hughes Corporation partnered with Wild Dogs International, an art production, curation, and design company based in New York City.

“The key idea is that people could be coming to this from different perspectives and have a shared experience,” said Ken Farmer, creative director at Wild Dogs, and OPUS 1’s chief curator. “The larger intention is to create something that’s bigger than a micro-visceral experience. We want people to feel moments of enchantment.”

Using the ideas of “enchantment,” “wonder,” and “discovery” as conceptual pillars, the festival is divided into “activation areas,” which include music, projections, and live performance. Inspired by Symphony Woods, the scenic forested area on Merriweather’s grounds, Farmer and his team wanted to build a creative ecosystem that includes four performance stages and ten installations. The festival will also make extensive use of the brand new Chrysalis Stage, the gorgeous new amphitheater located inside Symphony Woods.

Performers at OPUS 1 include the celebrated Sun Ra Arkestra, the Brooklyn Raga Massive, which will be using Indian classical instruments to perform Terry Riley’s In C, and 1432 R, a D.C.-based DJ crew that specializes in international sounds.

Installations include that immersive air pavilion, called the The Lighting Cloud, along with The Projection Cube, an immersive visual environment; The Mutual Wave Machine, which incorporates elements of neuroscience to create an interactive experience; and about a half dozen others.

By using Merriweather’s facilities in a holistic manner, Farmer hopes OPUS 1 demonstrates that the venue need not be limited to a musical destination; it can also be used effectively for broader cultural events.

“[OPUS 1] is not an experience where everyone will be in one place at one time. I like the idea of it manifesting as a non-linear, ‘choose your own adventure’ option,” he said. “You’re going to be able to craft your personal experience.”

“For me, we’re so scheduled in the world that we live in,” Rodriguez added. “The one thing we wanted to do is really kind of break down barriers so that people can get lost.”

OPUS 1 takes place on Saturday, October 7 from 4 to 11 p.m. at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Free with RSVP, which can be done through the festival website. Free buses will run direct loops to and from the event. First departures to OPUS 1 leave at 4:00 p.m. from Dupont Circle and will run on the hour. The last bus leaves OPUS at 11 p.m. Buses will depart from pickup locations at Dupont Circle at the corner of 20th and Q Streets NW and Mount Vernon at the intersection of L and 7th Streets NW. Seats are first come, first serve.