Public Benefit: Pop-Ups in Palo Alto's POPOS

A city-wide series of playful, site-specific pop-up activations unfolding across Palo Alto’s Privately Owned Public Open Spaces (POPOS) spaces with creative and artist Lisa Van Dusen.

This project brings underused public benefit spaces to life through temporary, participatory encounters—ranging from workshops and performances to creative experiments and moments of surprise. Each activation is lightweight, open-ended, and designed to spark curiosity, connection, and everyday delight.

POPOS become shared spaces for imagination, inviting the public to discover, reimagine, and engage with the city in new ways.

Presented as part of the ArtLift Grants Program through the City of Palo Alto Public Art Program.

Past Event: held in Common
Guest Artist: Angela Sanders
Saturday, May 16, 2026
11 a.m.–3 p.m.
Ramona Plaza POPOS, 250 University Avenue, downtown Palo Alto

held in Common was a participatory artwork that invited passersby to pause and leave a single word on a piece of second-hand cloth in response to the prompt: “What would you like this space to feel like or hold?” The collected fabric fragments will later be hand-sewn into a larger textile work and offered to the City of Palo Alto.