#ArtLitPhx: Hello Lamp Post at Mesa Arts Center

 

Hello Lamp Post, a playful work of interactive digital art that invites people to strike up conversations with familiar street fixtures, will be installed in downtown Mesa and on Mesa Arts Center’s campus March 17 through April 16, 2018, marking the second installation of this work in the United States. The public art project by PAN Studios in London will encourage people to pause in their tracks and interact via text message with everyday street objects like lamp posts, benches, buildings, and drains. The objects will ‘wake up,’ prompting a set of carefully crafted questions about what people are doing and how they feel about where they live, work and play.

In the Mesa project, 32 objects including Mesa Arts Center itself will come to life via anonymous text messages. All that is needed to engage the objects is a basic mobile phone. As conversations grow, the objects will develop personalities and engage visitors around what they’ve heard from others. Visitors will be invited to tell the designated Hello Lamp Post objects their stories, give opinions and share observations.

Cindy Ornstein, Executive Director of Mesa Arts Center and Director of Arts & Culture for City of Mesa said of the project, “We love the way Hello Lamp Post encourages visitors to Mesa Arts Center and downtown Mesa to notice and look differently at objects in the environment. We know the installation will surprise and delight, but also hope it helps expose public dreams, and understanding about values, public spaces and community.”

An object map will be available at Mesa Arts Center’s box office and throughout downtown Mesa. Visitors are encouraged to explore and converse with as many of the objects as they like. The project map (and anonymous answers given by visitors) will also be available to view on the project website at https://mesa.hlp.city.

Mesa Arts Center is located at One East Main Street in downtown Mesa, AZ. More information can be found at MesaArtsCenter.com.

View a short video about Hello Lamp Post here.

Contributor Update: Christopher Jagmin

Your Secret is Safe With MeToday we are excited to share that past contributor Christopher Jagmin’s participatory art installation called Your Secret is Safe With Me will be presented this Thursday, October 19 at Tilt Gallery in Scottsdale from 7 to 9 pm. The installation invites community members to share a secret with a complete stranger in hopes of making it easier for them to process and share their own memories in a safe place.

Click here to see six paintings by Christopher in Issue 10 of Superstition Review.