For three days each September, the Life is Beautiful (LIB) festival takes over 18 city blocks of downtown Las Vegas (DTLV). No, we’re not talking about the famous Las Vegas strip where all the behemoth hotels reside – we’re talking about downtown, where Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard collide in a mass of old school neon, casting a glow on dozens of empty lots and small businesses that have started to undergo a revitalization of their own over the past five years. Yet still, there are plenty of empty lots and deserted motels waiting to be reinvented. Here, the sides of buildings become canvases for murals that not only provide colorful Instagram backdrops for festival goers, but it beautifies the once abandoned area for the betterment of the growing downtown community. Shuttered buildings become opportunities for artists to create experiences. Vast parking lots become not just stages and food plazas, but grass-covered oases creating natural lounges for attendees to enjoy, as well as stages for additional art installations. Each year, LIB hosts musicians, artists, and attendees and create experiences and memories that last long after the last face painting has washed away.
Meow Wolf’s Art Motel
Meow Wolf, the arts collective of over 100 artists out of Santa Fe, New Mexico, utilizes painting, architecture, sculpture, video production, audio engineering, writing, and other disciplines to create fully immersive art experiences. Zappos, the online retailer based in downtown Las Vegas, sponsored the collective to transform an empty motel into The Art Motel in the center of the festival. Fully utilizing the rooms that enclosed a center courtyard, the activation featured 20 reimagined rooms full of colorful creations and over-the-top productions. Attendees could meander from room to room, discovering creations that ranged from whimsical to bizarre and even mildly creepy. The motel opened onto the Zappos Mood Swing activation, where guests could swing, shop, and express themselves in visual ways.
Photo credit Meow Wolf Instagram Photo Credit Las Vegas Review Journal Photo Credit Las Vegas Review Journal Photo Credit Las Vegas Review Journal Photo Credit Frank Gruber
Solar Powered Pantone Mural
The 2016 LIB festival introduced a Felipe Pantone mural downtown that has been a staple for the local community. Rather than painting over it as they did with some other pieces, they had Yesco and Bombard Renewable Energy transform the mural, by adding neon lights powered by solar panels, making it “the world’s first, 100 percent solar-powered art mural” according to the festival. Photo credit Frank Gruber Photo credit Pantone UltraBoyz
Okuda Bear and Mural
Ruling over the lawn just outside of Art Motel, the Okuda Bear and mural (painted on the side of the Art Motel) proved to be a fan favorite. Okuda is the name of the creator, Okuda San Miguel, a Spanish urban street artist. With the giant sculpture’s geometric pattern mirroring that of the adjacent mural, the area was a hub of social attention and relaxation for revelers. Read an interview with the artist here. Photo credit Frank Gruber
LED Blanket and The Big Rig Jig
For the past year, adorning the front of the old Ferguson’s Motel (soon to be a community and retail space) has been the Big Rig Jig – a transplant from the dusty desert setting of Burning Man. This year brought a new addition to the rig: draped behind it was a giant neon blanket with glittering LED lights that danced to a constantly changing soundtrack of relaxing music, providing an artistic escape for attendees seeking a silent moment to unwind.
Read all our coverage of Life is Beautiful at TechCo Lead image photo credit Demian Becerra
