Code:ART Interactive Media Art Festival

The City of Palo Alto Public Art Program will launch its third interactive media art festival, Code:ART, a three-evening event that re-imagines Palo Alto’s underutilized plazas, alleys, and public spaces through interactive light, sound, and motion. The festival will feature a major interactive media artwork anchoring the festival and six Urban Interventions activating or reimagining downtown storefronts, alleys, parking lots or blank walls in new and inventive ways. The artworks will invite play and participation, engaging area locals in an event that outwardly reflects the creative community and culture that thrives here. Public tours every night at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. starting at King Plaza.

EVENT DATES: October 12-14, 2023, 5 - 10 p.m.

Explore all installations with Mapme

Conceptual rendering of Questions for the Curious Orchard by artist Nate Mohler

Art Installations

A major temporary new media artwork by Nate Mohler has been commissioned for King Plaza, anchoring the three-day festival, and acting as a major draw to the downtown corridor. Questions for the Curious Orchard is a site-specific immersive interactive artwork that visually responds to visitors in a playful and engaging way. Taking inspiration from complex networks and energy exchange between living beings occurring in the natural world, such as the contagiousness of laughter or tree roots communicating in a forest, the installation invites visitors to gift something to it, such as their heartbeat or best dance moves, that will in turn feed energy into the artwork and ripple throughout the installation. Nate Mohler is a Los Angeles-based emerging media artist, who uses digital technology as a paint brush to build avant-garde experiences.

Six Urban Interventions by Bay Area and international artists will activate downtown storefronts, alleys, parking lots and blank walls in new and inventive ways. These artworks will include dynamic projections, immersive installations, responsive sounds, lights, and game-based experiences. These will include:

Lytton Plaza: Helix Seats by art and design studio Pneuhaus is a site-specific art installation featuring two inflatable helices designed for interactive engagement. As LEDs come to life within the helices, Helix Seats will illuminate the space. Beyond their function as seating, the Helix Seats double as eye-catching sculptural centerpieces and giant sensory play objects.

399 University Avenue: River of Shadows, by Cory Barr, Paul Mans, and Matt Sonic is a dynamic interactive digital mural, projecting shadows of its participants in colored light joining the "river" of previous visitors. 

285 Hamilton Avenue: Bureau of Cloud Management by Tong Wu and Yuguang Zhang is an Urban Intervention where participants are invited to co-create the experience of observing clouds with AI. 

555 Ramona Street: Ripple by Oakland-based artist Jeffrey Yip is going to be a multisensory installation with water rippling in response to vibrations from a soundscape.

581 Ramona Street: Interactive Flow Fields by San Francisco-based artist Steven Wallace is a multi-display video installation consisting of a computer running TouchDesigner, displaying a field flow algorithm that is webcam reactive.

536 Emerson Street: Intersection by Palo Alto-based creator Ruokan He is an immersive light- and sound-based multimedia art installation where an underwater forest has moved into a downtown alley.

Community Partnerships

The City of Palo Alto Public Art Program is teaming up with local downtown businesses for an extended Code:ART Festival program schedule:

Pamela Walsh Gallery, 540 Ramona Street, is pleased to participate in this year’s Code: ART Festival with a selection of works by interdisciplinary artist Maja Planinac. They will be exhibiting a new, digital work alongside a small collection of photographs from her recent series called, “Away.” Join them on Thursday, October 12 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to meet the artist and hear about her artistic practice.

Bell’s Books, 536 Emerson Street, has Margo Davis’ s exquisite portraits of Saul Bellow, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Toni Morrison, Ursula Le Guin, The Dalai Lama, and more, on display throughout the entire Code:ART Festival. Come meet Margo Davis in person at a special event on Friday, Oct. 13 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.!

Qualia Contemporary Art, 328 University Avenue, is inviting the public to a free program on Friday, October 13, from 7.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Local artist Clive McCarthy will demonstrate and speak to how he utilizes small, custom-built computer systems to produce painting-like images rendered on flat screens.

More Information

Contact the Palo Alto Public Art Program with any questions. Sign up to our monthly newsletter, and stay connected on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to learn more about the upcoming Code:ART. For all press-related inquires (including, but not limited to, requests for high-res images, interviews, magazine credits, releases) please contact Elise.DeMarzo@paloalto.gov

When

Location

Installation Sites:

King Plaza, 250 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto, CA.
581 Ramona St, Palo Alto, CA.
536 Emerson St, Palo Alto, CA.
Lytton Plaza, 200 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA.
555 Ramona St, Palo Alto, CA.
399 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA.
285 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto, CA.

Downtown Palo Alto, Palo Alto, CA