Say ‘Hello’ to Mesa’s Newest Art Installation

by Turiya Chavez | March 20, 2018

Premiering at spark! Mesa’s Festival of Creativity on Saturday, March 17 and running through Monday, April 16 is ‘Hello Lamp Post’, a playful project that involves the incorporation of digital art which invites people to strike up conversations with street fixtures around Mesa Arts Center and downtown Mesa. Sounds crazy, right? This will only be the second location in the U.S. to have this quirky piece of art on display. The public art project by PAN Studio in London encourages people to seek out the various objects around the area such as lamp posts, buildings and benches, and communicate with them via text message. The conversation begins with “Hello, object” which then prompts the object to respond.

The objects will lead the conversation and most likely ask what people are doing and how they feel about where they live, work and play. They will develop their own personalities as conversations grow and will use everything they learn from other visitors to engage people. Does this sound like a sci-fi movie? Well, it may be pretty close!

Mesa Arts Center, located at One East Main Street, and surrounding downtown Mesa houses 32 of these outspoken-objects. A map showing the location of each object will be available at Mesa Arts Center’s box office and throughout the downtown area. The map is also available on the project website at https://mesa.hlp.city. Planning on making new friends this Spring? Simply bring a phone and get to know the formerly silent residents of Mesa!