The Downtown Arts District is unveiling its final installations in a long-running program that brings art into empty storefronts in the downtown area.
The project is called “Vacant to Vibrant.” Downtown Arts District Executive Director Barbara Hartley pointed out it’s a win-win-win: local artists get a chance to create installations for storefront windows, the empty spaces for rent get more visual attention from potential tenants, and the public gets exposure to art that may not be accessible otherwise.
“It’s in a storefront that’s accessible visually by anyone who is passing by,” said Hartley. “So whether you’re walking by or in your car, you can see these presentations by local artists.”
The final installations will be unveiled during this month’s Third Thursday event at downtown’s CityArts gallery. However, earlier installations are still on display, in various storefronts within a two-block radius of CityArts.
Necessity is the mother of invention
Hartley said, in part, it was the practical issue that sparked a new artistic approach.
“As you know, a lot of people are working part of the time from their homes, not all fully in offices, and there are vacant spaces in downtown – and pretty much every city in the US and I'm sure other countries as well,” she said. “So the idea came about as a way to highlight a space in a different way.”
One of the newly designed storefronts being revealed this weekend will house an ambitious project by 302 Interactive – a gaming, interactive media, and digital art studio based in downtown Orlando. Creative Director and veteran game designer Angel Rodriguez said the group’s installation is called “Reality OS,” in which OS stands for “operating system.”
The work, featured in a storefront on the corner of Orange Avenue and Church Street, will be tucked underneath the steps to the CMS Cineplex Plaza 12 movie theater.
The creative cutting edge
“So what we ended up wanting to do is bring the digital to the physical,” said Rodriguez. He said it’s an approach they’re calling “location-based experiences.”
“So we're putting digital elements in these black-lit, neon kind of scenes inside this building, so that people who walk by would go up to the window and see this kind of digital world inside,” Rodriguez explained.
“And we're going to incorporate a projector and a game element, where anyone walking by can scan a QR code and their phone can become a video game controller,” he continued. “And you play a quick video game inside of the building, which is something we've wanted to experiment with for a long time.”
The Third Thursday event where all the new installation will be unveiled features live music, gallery artists, and a street activation outside CityArts.
