Collaborative event production / Immersive art

Pathways

Bringing an immersive art experience together for the Austin Studio Tour.

Producer and co-project lead, with Loria Mendoza / LL Creative

November 11–13, 2022

At night in a parking lot, freestanding walls built from wooden pallets hold paintings, with neon lights and string stretched between them and visitors walking through. — Photo: Cesar Enriquez

The context

Pathways transformed Originator Studios and its parking lot into a walk-through art experience for the East Austin Studio Tour. Loria Mendoza and I led the project together; LL Creative, Loria and Leah Bury, curated the art.

Making the experience possible

I co-led the project from the first budget meeting through installation and breakdown. I wrote the sponsorship pitch, planned the setup and after parties with LL Creative, built the pallet podiums for outdoor art, and ran things on-site.

I worked with Derek Gildersleeve and TVHead on the entrance video and with Topher Sipes on the logo. Those contributions sat alongside the work of the artists, curators, and Originator production team.

A collaborative world

TVHead built the indoor exhibit with the production team. Sara Houser created the soundscapes, Alex Aulson made animated visuals, and Topher Sipes designed the logo. Ronald L. Jones connected the outdoor installations with light and string.

Two after parties brought in local musicians and performance artists. The experience depended on many people’s work, with each contribution credited alongside the relevant image or film.

On a green-screen set, Kate adjusts the ear of a person in a large bunny costume while a man in a cap stands beside them.

At night under the light installation, people in masks and costumes, including a bunny mask, a giraffe hat and a ranch dressing bottle, sit in a circle with suitcases of props.

Noella Grey and the Imaginary Band performing at night in front of a silver foil backdrop, with a singer, a drummer and a guitarist.

Installation and performance photos: Cesar Enriquez. Production image: project archive.

Film

Watch Pathways

Watch film Watch the exhibit animation by Alex Aulson

More from Pathways

A person stands in a narrow corridor covered in glowing neon paint splatters, facing a lit mural of a figure with a TV for a head and the words “You are the key.” — Photo: Cesar Enriquez

A dark corridor lit red, with a cloud-like canopy overhead, a warning sign on the wall and the word “Trauma” glowing on the floor.

Kate smiling in a room glowing blue and purple, surrounded by hanging strands of fiber-optic light, with another person behind her.

An installation outside a building: an old TV playing video on a white pedestal with speakers on top, beside a paint-covered orange mannequin, with a person in red standing next to it. — Photo: Cesar Enriquez

At sunset outside the studio, colored light strands and string stretch between pallet towers hung with paintings, including a large portrait of a child resting his face in his hands.

During the build, a giant key spray-painted in neon on the studio floor, with cans of paint beside it and an artist kneeling at the far end.

TVHead stands in front of a green screen in blue coveralls, work gloves and red sneakers, with an old television over his head.

Carrie of Bruce sings into a microphone with a green sparkle guitar at the after party, in a black patent coat in front of a silver foil backdrop, lit pink and green. — Carrie of Bruce / Photo: Cesar Enriquez

Loria Mendoza, at right in a pink wig, poses with two others in bold makeup and party outfits in the parking lot, with string and purple light stretched overhead. — Loria Mendoza (right), my co-lead on Pathways. Photo: Cesar Enriquez

The finished shirt, printed by Unique Prints with Topher Sipes’s logo. Photo: Cesar Enriquez

The Pathways logo by Topher Sipes

After-party performance: Noella Grey and the Imaginary Band.

What came together

A multi-day, walk-through exhibition and two after parties, realized through shared creative direction, production planning, and on-site collaboration.

Collaborators & credits

Co-lead: Loria Mendoza. Curation: LL Creative, Loria Mendoza and Leah Bury. Exhibit: TVHead and Originator. Sound: Sara Houser. Animation: Alex Aulson. Logo: Topher Sipes. Outdoor light and string: Ronald L. Jones. Shirt printing: Tory Martinez of Unique Prints. Featured artists also included Christine Vanderkaap, Shannon Purcell, Juan & Rosemary Villegas, Xavier Alvarado, Chelsea Amato, Mar Beltran, Lisa Lee, Chantal Lesley, Jae Lin, Rewon Shimray and Alison Skinner. Photography: Cesar Enriquez where credited.