Experience unique and vibrant local art this spring at the new XYZ Atlas installation on Congress Avenue. Jennifer Chenoweth, artist and founder of XYZ Atlas, has collaborated with the Downtown Austin Alliance to showcase her latest installation “XYZ Atlas: Congress Avenue." Visit the colorful, interactive work between March 2 and April 30, 2017.

XYZ Atlas Congress Avenue panorama at Lady Bird Lake
XYZ Atlas: Congress Avenue at Lady Bird Lake.

The installation is available to the public at various locations across Congress Avenue, beginning at Lady Bird Lake and moving towards the Capitol, in time for the Cap 10K, giving many art enthusiasts and Austinites the opportunity to have both playful and meaningful experiences with Chenoweth’s colorful 20’ sculpture, "The Vertex."

For Chenoweth, the goal of XYZ Atlas is to use various installments and projects to directly connect different geographical regions to the emotions and significant moments that people experience as they encounter the city’s diverse buildings, streets and districts. In coordination with the visual element, she also constructed an 8-question online survey that is used to capture the people’s emotions about the sculpture by documenting their answers through personalized color schemes which she later incorporates into her work.

She also stated that the purpose of the survey is to construct a “powerful message about how many kinds of people use Congress Avenue every day, and to see how so many visitors and tourists are just wandering about looking for new experiences.”

Lookin up at XYZ Atlas Congress Avenue sculpture The Vortex
XYZ Atlas: Congress Avenue. Courtesy of Jennifer Chenoweth.

XYZ Atlas is an ever-evolving project which utilizes the emotions of both Austin residents and visitors by outlining their responses to the city’s multicultural environment through various installations. The current Congress Avenue installment, XYZ Atlas will be used to educate the Congress Urban Design Initiative, a project by the city of Austin which will provide direction for future growth and improvements to the iconic avenue, incorporating artistically attractive identity and design.

Visit the installation during your trip to Austin and fill out a survey to document your experiences, or join Chenoweth for a celebration of XYZ Atlas on Tuesday, April 18 from 5 to 8 p.m. The party will include live experience mapping, live dance performance and raffles; here visitors and locals will enjoy a free, interactive event which celebrates the city’s growing art scene.

Contributed by ACVB Marketing Intern Ivan Savinon.