Canal Convergence 2023 | Artwork

ARTWORK

Canal Convergence 2023

Featured Theme: The Power of Play

The concept of “play” is one of the most creative and meaningful constructs in human experience. It is an innate behavior that appears in the earliest stages of childhood to facilitate learning and healthy social engagement. As an adult, play continues to have a significant role in daily life by acting as a vehicle for continuing education, practice, competitive drive, creative expression, joy, energy, individuality, and more. Play and acts of play tap into humanity’s most basic instincts and, as such, can have a significant influence on how people engage with one another and their environment. By harnessing the power of play through public art, artists have the opportunity to produce compelling and meaningful experiences that reveal the power that play holds in our lives.

For Canal Convergence 2023, Scottsdale Arts has selected art installations that speak to “The Power of Play” in different ways. From video games and playground nostalgia to perceptions of luck and physical acts of play, this year’s selection of artworks explore and reveal the power that play has in our lives and its ability to unite people across all ages, genders, and cultures through shared experience.

Aquatics

Philipp Artus (Berlin, Germany)

Aquatics is an interactive, projection-based art installation of an underwater world where animated sea creatures swim around and interact with each other. These creatures are designed by the audience through a touch screen device by choosing the type and selecting the species, size, shape, and color before “releasing” them into the virtual ecosystem.

DICE

Iregular (Montreal, Canada)

Jump, spin, and dance through canal-side interactive zones to interact with five giant dice floating above the Arizona Canal. Inspired by luck, Iregular’s DICE uses generative software and the power of play to create living artworks through reactive shapes, colors, and patterns that are never the same.

Projectors provided by Panasonic Connect. Rigging design and installation provided by Darren Jeffrey. Structural engineering provided Sirius Structures. Projection material provided by Total Shade.

Light Forest

Liquid PXL (Los Angeles, California)

Light Forest is a series of 16 pillars that emit light and sound to create unique audio-visual experiences for viewers. As viewers walk through these 10-foot-tall towers along Soleri Bridge, they will be immersed in experimental electronic music inspired by “The Power of Play,” synchronized with a dazzling light show. This artwork will remain on view after Canal Convergence with a new holiday-themed light and sound program through Dec. 31, 2023.

FLARIO

Walter Productions (Phoenix, Arizona)

FLARIO is an interactive, fire-shooting art installation, inspired by the archetypal endgame level found in classic side-scrolling video games of years past. During the fire shows, FLARIO will become a full manifestation of the most difficult video game level with a climax of flames, lighting, and pyrotechnics—all expertly choreographed to music. In between fire shows, attendees can play a mini-game with the artwork using vintage video game controllers.

Fire Show Schedule:

Friday, Nov. 3–

Saturday, Nov. 4: 6:30, 7:30, 8, and 9 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 5: 6:30, 7:30, and 8:30 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 6–Tuesday, Nov. 7: 6:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 8: 6:45 and 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 9: 6:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 10–Saturday, Nov. 11 6:30, 7:30, 8, and 9 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 12: 6:30, 7:30, and 8:30 p.m.

Flora Philipp Artus (Berlin, Germany)

Flora is an interactive, projection-based artwork that consists of ever-evolving abstract lines, complex structures, and delicate shapes that resemble the growth cycle of a plant. Participants can control the animation movements with a touchpad placed near the base of the projection. By playing with a simple chain of digital rotating joints, the public can create fascinating, larger-than-life compositions for all to enjoy.

Octavius

Peter Hazel (Reno, Nevada)

Octavius by Peter Hazel is a giant, illuminated octopus sculpture, covered in 250,000 hand-made, hand-painted ceramic tiles, with suckers and eyes created from fused glass. This cephalopod-inspired artwork invites viewers to touch the artwork and contemplate the beauty and magnificence of this sea dweller.

Ripple

Ithaca Studio (Brighton, United Kingdom)

Ripple is a site-specific, interactive light and sound installation that invites viewers to create ripples of sparkling lights overhead, mirroring the surface of the nearby water. Inspired by stepping in puddles and dropping stones into the water, the artwork fills the internal structure of Marshall Way Bridge with individually controlled and colorful light spheres.

Rigging design and installation provided by Darren Jeffrey. Structural engineering provided by Sirius Structures.

Welcome to Figment Land

Isaac Caruso (Phoenix, Arizona)

Welcome to Figment Land is an augmented reality (AR) activated mural based on the Sam & Sara children’s book. Visitors can interact with the book’s characters called “Figments,” activated through the mural’s imagery and AR, opening a world of imagination and inspiring creativity.

Murals made possible in part by lululemon and Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Spectrum Swing

Lindsay Glatz (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Spectrum Swing evokes the beauty of rainbows through a series of swings suspended below a trio of colorful sculptures. This interactive artwork invites participants to activate the individual colors in the rainbow overhead, only reaching the full spectrum of color when all seven spaces are occupied.

Sym

AlexP (Uithoorn, The Netherlands)

Sym is an interactive installation with which audiences use a flashlight like a paintbrush to create temporary, light-based artworks. Step into the installation, pick up your flashlight, and let your inner artist shine!