Once again, AURORA is about to transform parts of downtown Dallas into a technology-driven “multi-sensory art experience.” The free public AURORA Biennial 2024—the largest of its kind in North America—will be held Saturday, November 16, at Dallas City Hall and surrounding areas from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. early Sunday morning.

Titled “FuturePresentPast,” the event curated by New York City-based artist and curator Kendal Henry and Austin- and Mexico City-based curator and writer Leslie Moody Castro. They’ll be working with regional and international artists to present “an expansive exhibition of technology-based public art,” the organization said.

Kendal Henry

AURORA IS a Dallas-based public arts organization working at the intersection of art, technology, and community. Its curators for this year’s biennial plan to look into North Texas’ past “in order to shape our future through the present,” with a focus on bridging disconnected communities, health advocacy, environmental sustainability, and urban transformation as a result of displacement and migration.

“AURORA 2024 will bring back our city’s largest free public art event, continuing a 15-year mission ignited by a pair of Dallas artists and a civic leader who envisioned a future where North Texas would become a cultural capital for art and technology,” AURORA Co-Founder and Executive Director Joshua King says on the organization’s website. “Our aim is to inspire a more accessible future where anyone, from any background, can have transformative and meaningful experiences with public art.”

AURORA Co-Founder Joshua King said his organization’s aim “is to be a city-wide project that expands through and beyond the scope of downtown Dallas. By shifting the central exhibition footprint, the artist will have a fresh canvas to work with, while bringing attention to an iconic public space in the city.”

Experimenting with sound, sites, digital experiences, and interactivity

Leslie Moody Castro

The artists taking part in the 2024 AURORA Biennial are “a diverse group of emerging and renowned artists who will experiment with sound, site-specificity, interactivity, and the digital,” AURORA SAID. As the public explores the installations and site-based experiences downtown—including projections on city buildings—they’ll be exposed to “new and varied perspectives on societal issues” and “enriching conversations about our shared past, present, and future,” AURORA said.

AURORA was founded in 2010 by artists Shane Pennington and Joshua King, along with veteran Dallas arts supporter Veletta Forsythe Lill. The organization’s inaugural one-night-only public art event featured artworks featuring light, video, and sound. AURORA now presents experiences as a multifaceted platform, as visitors to this year’s event will discover.

More info on the event is available here.

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