The Chicago public art scene has a major new addition. The Merchandise Mart’s Art on theMart project is the world’s largest permanent digital art projection. The City of Chicago and theMart will work together to manage this program, as per a 30-year agreement. The rotating art displays run through Dec. 30 and will resume in March 2019.

Every evening (Wednesday through Sunday) for two hours, 34 projectors combine to produce beautiful digital images across the huge (2.5 acres) river-side façade of theMart. Obscura Digital, theMart owner Vornado Realty Trust and architecture firm Valerio Dewalt Train Associates, Inc., work together to design and implement the projection system. Almost 1 million lumens are projected to form each huge digital image. Obviously, it is visible from blocks away as it lights up the West Loop skyline.

The inaugural program of Art on theMART features four contemporary artists. Diana Thater, Zheng Chongbin, Jason Salavon and Jan Tichy were the first four selected.

© Carol Fox and Associates Public Relations & theMart

© Carol Fox and Associates Public Relations & theMart

Thater created a short film entitled True Life Adventures, which features the plight of animals in Kenya. Chongbin’s Chimeric Landscape focuses on the ever-changing world of matter and energy. Salavon’s Homage in Between (Chicago Art, 20th Century) uses image archives to create a visual history. Tichy animates the artwork of seven local artists into a growing garden of art for his Artes in Horto – Seven Gardens for Chicago.

The Art in theMart display is the latest part of a major push to develop the River Walk area in Chicago. The 1.25-mile path along the main branch of the Chicago River is now a destination spot in Chicago, and the Art on theMart is quickly becoming the major attraction. As a lover of public art, I have already spent several hours watching the displays.

— John Wroblewski, online writer