adidas

The inaugural Destination San Diego took place at Horton Plaza Park on August 11. The entire event was designed to engage with consumers in a new way.

Art installations are nothing new at music festivals, but Destination San Diego aimed to take it a step further by creating a living mural. Visitors could contribute to it throughout the day by pushing one of a series of buttons; depending on the color selected, a new stripe of paint was added.

Event producers had to think through some unusual logistical challenges for the 40-foot-mural, said Starch Creative partner Brandon Ball. “How much paint do we need? Will the art change throughout the day? Will it turn brown? How do we capture and recycle the paint? Plan B was someone would be getting on the roof and pouring paint when consumers hit a button.”

By the end of the evening, the crowdsourced mural offered a larger-than-life, colorful focal point for the event.

Another interactive art installation involved linocut prints created with an actual steamroller. “We wanted to over-dramatize the lino print process,” explained Ball. “The consumer would have the opportunity to ink up their lino print before a steamroller would roll over it to create their one-off custom print.”

Starch Creative worked with its custom-build manufacturer Purpose Supply Co. to test the steamroller prints before introducing them to the public.

Attendees could also make custom D.I.Y. merchandise throughout the day. “[Adidas is] always exploring new and interesting ways for people to get hands-on with the creation and customization process—whether that’s with product, sound, video, photo, or large-scale, crowd-sourced art installations,” explained Poythress.

The free, all-ages festival included performances from Na-kel Smith, Famous Dex, Jay Rock, and other popular rap and hip-hop artists.