Digital billboard maps Houston’s Latino artists and landmarks
Dr. Pamela Quiroz had a dream one night about a digital billboard filled with Latino art.
A bit random, yes. But Quiroz, who heads the Center of Mexican American and Latino/a Studies at University of Houston, had been searching for a way to celebrate Latino art and culture by making it accessible to Houston’s underserved communities. A digital billboard could be the answer, she thought.
Quiroz’s vision is now a reality with Latino cARTographies, a portable bilingual and interactive digital display that showcases more than 200 artists, 2,000 images and seven Latino neighborhoods in Houston — along with 80 landmarks, 17 arts organizations and other significant sites in Latino communities. Quiroz said it’s considered the first portable bilingual interactive digital board in the country.
It’s a dynamic artscape in which adults and children can actually touch the screen to hear artists explain their work, learn about the history of artworks or significant sites and even listen to culturally relevant music. It tells the history of Latino communities in Houston through art. It also is portable, so the billboard can be transported to schools and communities.
“The real influence was the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and I spent lots of time there in graduate school,” Quiroz said. “Everything was interactive. Everything was hands-on. Everything was about learning in a fun way. I thought, ‘Why can’t we do that with art?’ So I came up with these rudimentary sketches, and I had lots of people say it was a horrible idea. Sometimes you have to stick with something you believe in.”
Latino cARTographies is funded by the University of Houston and is the the result of a three-year collaboration that also involves the curatorial leadership of Juana Guzman, former vice president of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, and the International Gibson Group.
Since the display is digital, artwork can be easily changed and archived.
“This allows visitors to have an understanding of all the art that is created in Houston but also students, schools and libraries will be able to have an idea of what kind of art is created,” Guzman said. “We’re showing that these artists are human beings. It also draws attention to Latino communities and brings visitors to the neighborhoods, while helping people understand the rich nature of the cultural expressions that are in these neighborhoods.”
The Latino cARTographies is a way to humanize how art is created, Quiroz said.
“So much of our artwork comes from a place of social justice,” she said. “This is a way to tell the stories of our communities for our communities.”