Artists Leave Their Fingerprints Downtown in 16th Street Project

On a sunny Tuesday in late August, 16th Street is quiet, save for the chirping of birds and crosswalk meters, buses squealing to their stops and occasional snippets of conversation in many different languages. On the corner of 16th and Market streets, a man cups his hands against the window of an empty storefront, peering not into a vacant space, but a moving installation of pink and purple cowboy boots.

It's Kenzie Sitterud's "All Roads Lead to Charlie's," a tribute to the Capitol Hill neighborhood and its landmark gay bar. This installation is one of seven pieces of interactive art peppered along 16th Street, each telling the story of a different Denver neighborhood. The installations make up Leave Your Fingerprints Downtown, a collaboration between Denver Arts & Venues, the Downtown Denver Partnership and project manager Brian Corrigan.

The Fingerprints windows aren't the only colorful additions to the area. Local advertising firm Cultivator put up other installations in more empty storefronts, and new play structures for kids have popped up along the street. "The Beehive" is a bright honeycomb between Larimer and Lawrence streets, and three climbable fish (one wearing a cowboy hat) known as "Howdy Trouty" swim perpetually between Market and Larimer streets. There's also "Fallen Leaves," an interactive play feature with colorful leaves that make sounds when they're hopped on between Arapahoe and Curtis streets.

"Sixteenth Street has long been considered Denver's Main Street, and after three and a half years of construction that was preceded by two years of the pandemic, we are working hard to ensure that the newly revitalized space authentically reflects the spirit of Denver and brings meaningful invitations for Denverites to rediscover 16th Street," says Kate Barton, chief of external affairs & managing director at the Downtown Denver Partnership.

Getting local artists involved through the Fingerprints project was one way to do that.

In addition to "All Roads Lead to Charlie's," there's a tribute to Denver's Art District on Santa Fe, "Santa Fe Streetwear," by Andrea Fischer; "Greetings from Barnum" by Starry Night Productions; "Fun in the Denver Sun" by OhHeckYeah; "Untitled," a piece representing downtown, by Joe Palec; "Colorful Denver," a vibrant installation representing the Northside by Kyle Vincent Singer and the Waffle Cone Club; and "The Future Points," Zoid Hæm's installation honoring the past, present and imagined future of Five Points.

More than sixty people applied to be featured in the Fingerprints project; the selected artists were each given a $5,000 stipend for their creations. The installations went up at the end of May, and Barton says they are expected to remain until the spaces are filled by permanent tenants.

"It was to really think about how people see themselves in downtown and in their neighborhood," says Corrigan, whose companies Farm-to-Spaceship and OhHeckYeah were part of Fingerprints for project management and video game installation, respectively. "We want people looking through the glass and leaving their fingerprints. When you see your fingerprints on something, then all of a sudden, it kind of becomes a part of you."

Any good community project should have a lot of fingerprints on it, he adds: "I think what really defines Denver as a cool place to be an artist is the collaborative nature."

In a place where there are few opportunities for artists, arts communities become competitive and fearful. "Whereas with abundance, you're doing things out of curiosity," Corrigan says. "And curiosity leads to creativity."
He hopes that the installations spark curiosity for those who see them as well, making people ask themselves what they've always wanted to make and what barriers have been keeping them from doing that.

While the other installations feature various neighborhoods in the Mile High City, Corrigan and his team took a more macro approach. "It's no secret that here in Denver, we love our sun, we love our outdoors," Corrigan says.

"Fun in the Denver Sun" features colorful murals of clouds, sculptures of watermelon and grass, plus two games. In "Sun Catcher," two people compete to see who can catch the most picnic supplies, and in "Cloud Blaster," the first person to break away all the gray clouds to reveal a sunny day wins.

A data tracker records how many times the games are played. "The last one we pulled was just a bit over 7,000 plays," says Corrigan, who adds that he loves going downtown on a random night and seeing people playing. The games got their start as part of a large installation in 2014 that created an immersive street arcade over three blocks of the nearby Denver Theater District. "It's full circle, but in a totally different format," Corrigan says.

The same can be said for the Fingerprints installations. Whether these tributes to Denver neighborhoods are viewed by someone visiting 16th Street for the first time or a person who has been coming for years, the evolving city is reflected in the glass.

For other looks at 16th Street today, see "The Summer It Turned Pretty."