about hps
Hiding in Plain Site (HPS) seeks to shine a light on the often misunderstood, complex global public art ecosystem. Our goal is to increase awareness, understanding and appreciation for the field, and increase support for the growing community of talented artists around the world.
The festival features site-specific work, community-engaged projects and processes, outdoor installations, performance-based works, and experimental approaches to art in public space.
With help from HPS, the stories of public art will no longer be hidden!
HPS founder and director Jack Becker has been embedded in the field of contemporary public art for fifty years, as an artist, educator, producer, consultant, curator, writer, publisher, and administrator. Best known as the founder of the nonprofit Forecast Public Art, based in Minnesota (US), Jack also founded Public Art Review, an international magazine devoted to contemporary public art. In the 1980s, he served as the first Art in Public Places coordinator for the City of Minneapolis, as well as Arts Development Manager for the City of St. Paul.
Recipient of the 2007 Award of Excellence from Americans for the Arts, the 2014 Public Art Dialogue Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2016 Alumni Achievement Award from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Jack currently serves as an advisor to the Institute for Public Art and the Public Art Exchange.
Paige Dansinger is an XR artist, curator, educator, and community builder working at the intersection of immersive media, cultural storytelling, public art, and emerging technology. As Director of the XR Women Museum and Founding Director of Better World Museum and Horizon Art Museum, her work explores how XR, video, AI-assisted media, and participatory digital environments can expand access to creative expression and amplify community voices.
Her practice spans experimental media, virtual world-building, interactive storytelling, and hybrid forms of contemporary moving-image culture. Paige has presented and collaborated internationally through organizations and events including MIT Reality Hack, Meta Connect, TEDx Minneapolis, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Augmented World Expo, the Met Museum, Games for Change, and Miami Art Week.