When I went downtown for the Dallas Aurora artist meeting a 10:30 AM, I thought I was going to sign some paperwork, run a power check and then head out for an early Tex-Mex lunch at the historic down town El Fenix. Well, as you can see from this mid day installation photo there was a few wrinkles to iron out. Good thing I packed an iron. Side note- Non wool felt will melt if the iron is to hot.

By the time we did the 5:30 power check I had my installation up and running. My best friend in the world dropped by with a totally tasty sandwich and ice tea which I needed badly.

Around 6:30 I took a quick walk around to see some of the other art installations. I came back very impressed. Seeing that the majority of video installations involved computer generated or manipulated images I decided to focus my installation on a montage of raw video footage of water.

As the night sky darkened all the videos became more color intense and the crowds filled the streets. I was surprised to see so many people dance in front of my video, use it as a colorful back drop and even videotape my video.

 A few notes for next year’s Aurora: *A dark corner will work better than being in the main drag due to all the ambient light. *Keep your projection size within the limits of the projector’s lumen power. Over extending = washed out color.*Forget about your soundtrack, in this event, your soundtrack is the ambient collective.  *No matter how fascinating your video is, people will only stand still for perhaps 10 seconds at the longest. *A collection of short clips is more engaging than one long film. *And lastly, promotion, Even though over a thousand people saw my installation, 90% of them will never connect it back to me.

To some it up, Dallas Aurora changed the Dallas Arts District into what I think it should be, a neighborhood of cultural centers that generate a sense of wonder and community. I had a great time being part of Dallas Aurora, and look foreword to doing it again next year.