In Dallas, Artists Reimagine Technology As A Unifier

In Dallas, where everything seems larger than life, the cultural scene often gets overshadowed by the towering skyline and sprawling highways. But then there’s AURORA, an artist-founded organization whose cornerstone biennial exhibition of light, sound, and technology-based art disrupts this narrative. Launched in 2010 by artists Shane Pennington and Joshua King, alongside Veletta Forsythe Lill, AURORA has grown from a modest 12-acre showcase into a cornerstone of North Texas culture, spanning over 68 acres and attracting tens of thousands of visitors. It is art spilling out of galleries and into the streets—accessible, immersive, and impossible to ignore.

Joshua King, AURORA’s co-founder and executive director, describes it best: “There are cultural deserts out there that just surround us, and today’s culture can unite that divide.” This philosophy has guided AURORA from its inception, creating “collisions of perspective” by mixing emerging talent with internationally acclaimed artists. The result is a festival that isn’t afraid to ask big questions or experiment with the new, a celebration of art and technology that connects people from all walks of life.

The 2024 biennial, FuturePresentPast, curated by Kendal Henry and Leslie Moody Castro, embodied this ethos. The theme explored shared histories and how they shape futures, weaving together health advocacy, environmental sustainability, and urban transformation into an ambitious narrative. Henry and Moody Castro join a long line of past curators who have shaped AURORA’s vision: Noam Segal for AURORA 2020-21, Justine Ludwig, Danielle Avram, DooEun Choi, and Nadim Samman for AURORA 2018, and Carson Chan, Tim Goosens, Julia Kagansky, Joshua King, Aja Martin, and Shane Pennington for AURORA 2015. Each biennial builds on the last, creating a platform that continues to push boundaries.

For Kendal Henry, public art is about accessibility: “I’m more of a curator as facilitator... it starts from the audience and the people.” Leslie Moody Castro echoed this, saying, “It’s about balancing what visual art can do with things that are relatable to our daily lives.” In a city as sprawling as Dallas, where communities can feel disconnected, AURORA uses art to bridge gaps, turning streets into galleries and City Hall into a canvas.

A visitor might have stumbled across Diana Rojas’s kinetic installations, which blur the line between the organic and the artificial, or Daniel Rozin’s interactive mirrors, where audiences become part of the artwork itself. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s works invite participants to confront societal issues through technology, while Daniel Canogar’s digital projections stretch the boundaries of what public art can achieve. These pieces, alongside others, spark conversations not only about art but about the role of technology in our collective lives.

This spirit of experimentation is rooted in collaboration. Leslie spoke of curating through a Texas lens, infusing global conversations with local nuances like mariachi bands and gospel choirs. It’s this blend of the hyper-local and the international that makes AURORA resonate. “Regional artists hold their own with international ones,” Leslie notes, “and that’s amazing.” Here, no one voice drowns out another; instead, the works speak to and challenge each other. As Kendal explains, “Look at what these internationally renowned artists are doing and compare that to regional ones. They’re having the same conversation. They may have a different platform, but it’s equally as important.” By placing regional artists alongside institutional names, AURORA proves that great art transcends location and scale.

The beauty of AURORA is its defiance of boundaries. Public art often occupies a liminal space, belonging simultaneously to everyone and no one. By taking art out of exclusive galleries and into public spaces, AURORA democratizes the experience. In Dallas, this means transforming hard cityscapes into immersive canvases of light and sound. Art here is tactile, participatory, and universal.

Technology is the tool that makes this transformation possible. It softens the skyline, turning spaces of transit into places of reflection. It asks: What if art could make you pause in the middle of your commute? What if it could turn a public square into a space for wonder?

But more than its aesthetic potential, technology is a unifier. When used thoughtfully, it erases barriers—whether geographical, cultural, or even physical. At AURORA, it becomes the great equalizer, creating connections between strangers who might otherwise never interact. It invites everyone, regardless of background, into the conversation. The light and sound installations aren’t just striking—they’re shared experiences, moments where art breaks through isolation and reminds us of our collective humanity.

This isn’t technology as a force of division, as it so often feels in our fragmented digital age. At AURORA, it is transformed into a bridge, connecting communities that might feel worlds apart. Whether through Lozano-Hemmer’s thermal projections, which turn participants into active collaborators, or Rozin’s live image-mirroring installations, which let audiences literally see themselves reflected in the art, the exhibition showcases technology’s ability to foster empathy and engagement. It’s a reminder that when wielded with care, these tools can help us understand one another better, not push us further apart.

There’s something inherently hopeful about art that belongs to everyone. It’s a hope that technology, in the right hands, can unite rather than divide. AURORA takes this hope and runs with it, proving that in a city as ambitious and dynamic as Dallas, imagination has no limits.