Public Art in Motion Day is born after Ringling students light up the city

When the City of Sarasota set out to celebrate creativity in a bold, public way, it found the perfect collaborators in Ringling College of Art and Design’s award‑winning Motion Design Department. During the Fresh Fridays event, twelve students projected original animations onto the Palm Avenue parking garage, turning it into a towering urban canvas. The installation impressed the community so profoundly that Sarasota officially designated December 1 as Public Art in Motion Day, a celebration of creativity, technology, and collaboration.

Context

Ringling College’s Motion Design program, ranked #1 in the US and #2 globally for Motion Graphics, constantly pushes students to explore new forms of visual expression and storytelling. Professor Dante Rinaldi’s projection mapping class took on an ambitious challenge: create large‑scale animations tailored to the architectural features of a downtown building. The Palm Avenue garage, with its striking “sails” and angular façade, offered an ideal structure for experimentation.

As part of their artistic development, students were also required to present their concepts to Ciera Coleman, the City of Sarasota’s Public Art Administrator, whose critique and final approval ensured that each piece aligned with the city’s public art vision.

The project brought together civic leadership, students, and industry partners including Barco, Nexmark Media, LightMural, and Mainline Marketing, reinforcing Sarasota’s commitment to innovation and public art.

Challenge

As the head of The Department of Motion Design, Ed Cheetham, put it, “Designing animated content for a screen of this scale requires students to think differently and take into consideration the audience experience when making design and animation decisions.” Bringing a five‑story architectural surface to life through projection mapping required students to bridge the gap between digital design and physical space. Beyond crafting compelling animations, they needed to master the technical intricacies of projecting onto a large, irregular building. This meant developing an accurate 3D model of the garage, accounting for its unique architectural features, and understanding how content would distort across multiple planes.

They also had to determine the ideal projector positioning, calculate throw distances, select the appropriate lensing, and solve practical constraints such as power access and environmental variables. To make the installation vivid and distortion‑free, the team needed a projection solution that delivered high brightness, precise color, and absolute reliability in an outdoor urban setting.

Solution

To ensure the students’ creative work appeared vivid, sharp, and true to color, the team deployed a single Barco UDX‑4K40 3‑chip DLP projector. This high‑brightness, high‑resolution system provided the power and precision needed to illuminate the building’s surface with clarity, even amid downtown Sarasota’s ambient lighting. Its robust 40,000‑lumen output ensured the animations remained impactful across the entire façade, while its true 4K capabilities preserved the fine details integral to motion‑design storytelling.

The students collaborated closely with Barco, Nexmark Media, LightMural, and Mainline Marketing to support projector alignment, system configuration, and on‑site adjustments. The reliability and installation flexibility of the UDX platform enabled the team to overcome environmental challenges and deliver a seamless large‑scale projection that matched the students’ creative vision.

Results

The debut animations captivated Fresh Fridays attendees and earned enthusiastic praise from city officials, educators, and the community. The project was celebrated not only as a creative achievement but as an example of meaningful collaboration between a city, an educational institution, and industry innovators.

Sarasota Mayor Debbie Trice commended the effort, noting it as a “shining example of partnership, advancing Sarasota’s identity as a city that celebrates creativity, technology, and public art.”

Most importantly, Ringling students gained invaluable hands‑on experience with real‑world projection mapping, preparing them for a future in an industry where digital art meets physical space.

The success of the event led the City of Sarasota to officially declare December 1 as Public Art in Motion Day, underscoring the lasting cultural impact of the project