Permanent Installation · Projection Mapping · Fort Collins, CO

Illuminous
FOCO

Large-scale architectural projection mapping across Fort Collins' historic downtown — transforming a city block into a living, reactive canvas.

40K+

Attendees

Nights

Permanent

Installation

2019

Year

The Challenge

A city that needed
to see itself differently.

The Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority came to Alt Ethos with a challenge that went beyond event production — they needed an experience that would reframe how residents and visitors understood their own city. Not a concert, not a light show, not a festival. Something permanent that would change the relationship between the community and its built environment.

The DDA needed not just a technical partner but a creative one — someone who could identify, source, and curate the right artist for a permanent civic installation. Alt Ethos brought three artist candidates to the DDA, presented each with a clear creative rationale, and recommended world-renowned muralist Peeta — based on a specific insight: his 3D illusionistic letterform style would interact with projection mapping in ways a flat mural never could.

Client Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority

Location Fort Collins, Colorado, United States

Type Permanent Installation · Interactive Projection Mapping

Collaborators Peeta EAD (Artist) · Fort Collins DDA

Services Creative Direction · Artist Curation · Projection Mapping · Interactive Design · Turnkey Production

The Work

Illuminous FOCO — Fort Collins, Colorado · Alt Ethos x Peeta

The Approach

Creative
Direction
First.

The DDA chose Peeta. With the artist selected, Alt Ethos worked directly with him to design the digital overlay — building the projection content in dialogue with his physical mural so the two systems functioned as one unified piece rather than a mural with light thrown on it.

"Peeta's 3D surfaces became the architecture of the animation. Every projection decision was made in reference to the dimensional geometry he'd painted."

The result was an installation that couldn't be separated into its physical and digital components. The mural informed the projection. The projection revealed the mural. Together they created something neither could be alone — a permanent civic artwork that changed every night and stayed forever.

Over three nights, more than 40,000 people gathered in the streets of downtown Fort Collins to experience the installation. The work didn't just attract an audience — it created one. It gave the community a shared point of pride in their built environment and a new language for what public art could be.

Photography

Wide shot of Illuminous FOCO projection mapping installation on historic building Fort Collins Colorado night

Full building projection · Downtown Fort Collins

Detail of Peeta mural with projection mapping overlay showing 3D geometric letterforms lit by digital animation Alt Ethos

Peeta mural detail · Projection overlay

Person silhouetted against Illuminous FOCO projection mapping installation Fort Collins Colorado showing human scale

Human scale · 40,000+ attendees over three nights

Peeta EAD 3D illusionistic mural Fort Collins Colorado for Illuminous FOCO projection mapping by Alt Ethos

Artist · Peeta EAD

The Artist

The mural was
the blueprint.

Alt Ethos sourced and presented three artists to the DDA, each with a clear creative rationale. We recommended Peeta — Italian muralist Peeta EAD — based on a specific insight: his signature 3D illusionistic letterform style, built from intersecting conic, cylindrical, and twisting surfaces, would interact with projection mapping in ways a flat mural never could.

The geometry of his work was the technical advantage. His 3D surfaces became the architecture of the animation — every projection decision made in dialogue with the dimensional geometry he'd painted onto the wall.

The Results

What it
produced.

40K+

Total Attendees

Over three nights, more than forty thousand people gathered in the streets of downtown Fort Collins to experience the installation.

Permanent

Civic Legacy

The Peeta mural remains on the building. The installation infrastructure is permanent. The work didn't leave when the event ended.

100%

Client Satisfaction

"Working with the team was fascinating, the work was executed professionally, and the result exceeded our expectations." — Executive Director, Fort Collins DDA

Next Project

Vikram World →

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Illuminous FOCO

A city that neededto see itself differently.

CreativeDirectionFirst.

The mural wasthe blueprint.