For downtown Kitchener’s 2017night-time place-hacking festival Night|Shift, Michelle Purchase collaborated with multidisciplinary maker Agnes Niewiadomski to create a labyrinth of textile pop-up rooms called the Fibre Funhouse.  Over 1000 people toured through the rooms (polka dot room, rainbow room, star room, trading post, forest room, and granny's tea room) and encountered quirky characters along the way. Audiences listened to stories, participated in a sing-a-long, traded secrets for trinkets, wrote wishes on stars, and made flowers out of yarn.

Night|Shift described the construction as “A gigantic, fractured-personality fort made out of fibre arts magic. Imagine an oversized modular blanket fort with walls, doors, windows and ceilings constructed using various fibre arts techniques and materials. Think: grannies gone wild (with crochet needles) + t-shirt tent-building + tie-dyed dreamland! In the funhouse you’ll find a strange range of rooms full of whimsy, activities and wonder — spaces to play, relax, connect and explore. This project also threads together ideas rooted in city-building, teamwork, diy craft culture, mixed-use development, green architecture and housing (un)availability.”

The Funhouse was animated by the theatre company GreenLight Arts who worked with playwright Ciaràn Myers to create a zany roaming improvisational theatrical trip called the House of Fun.