Visitors to Scottsdale Arts’ annual Canal Convergence Nov. 7 - 16, will become captive audience members to a variety of interactive, light-based artworks that examine and celebrate the fusion of public art and performance.

This year’s installations will celebrate a theme of “SHOWTIME” by exploring the dynamic between audience and performer in unique ways, such as Big Art’s “BIG TV,” according to a press release.

In addition to “BIG TV,” the 2025 event will include internationally recognized studio Amigo and Amigo’s “Octopoda” which transforms a larger-than-life octopus sculpture into a playable instrument. With snare drums at the base of all eight legs, event attendees can create impromptu drum circles that light up the sculptures with sound-activated lighting sequences.

Other artworks scheduled to appear at Canal Convergence include:

• “Long Wave,” by Rhode Island-based art and design studio Pneuhaus, is a 330-foot-long and more than 20-foot-tall helical inflatable light sculpture that explores motion, perspective and repetition through a simple, continuous form.

• “Showtime,” by returning artist Walter Productions, captures the essence of live entertainment, intertwining flames, light and music in a vibrant spectacle — spelled out in marquee-style letters floating across the canal — that brings the collective’s beloved fire shows back to this year’s event.
• “Stargate,” by Melbourne-based creative studio Chalk River Labs, is an innovative, immersive projection sculpture, ingeniously designed to usher viewers on an awe-inspiring journey through the cosmos with light and sound.
• “Parallel Flow,” by Los Angeles artists Dina Fisher and David Howe, is an interactive sound and light show. Festival goers will be able to activate the lights using an interactive sensor, and nightly musical performances similarly transform the light show.
• “HD BPM,” by Boston-based MASARY Studios, is an instrument for public play that invites participants to strike illuminated drum pads, transforming existing structures into a stage where light becomes the music.
• “Pulse” by Toronto-based MattCreative is a series of suspended rings of light, encircling the trees along the canal and pulsing in rhythmic patterns that reveal a hidden choreography of connection.

For more information, visit at ScottsdaleArts.org/explore-scottsdale-arts/canal-convergence.