Vision del Futuro

The squiggly red and blue lines around the images on this mural may make you feel like you need to get your eyes checked, but they’re exactly what make this wall of art so special.

Fans of retro 3-D movies will thoroughly enjoy San Antonio’s first 3-D stereoscopic mural. Created by the San Anto Cultural Arts Center and funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, this unique art was dedicated and blessed September 19, 2014.

Called Vision del Futuro, the two-part public art exhibit includes a large sculpture of 3-D glasses with the traditional red and cyan (blue) lenses. Anyone who grew up watching 3-D films will recognize the design immediately. The second part, the mural, is more interactive and puts actual 3-D glasses to good use.

The mural features a local Tejano musician (Alvaro del Norte of Pinata Protest) playing his accordion while wearing 3-D glasses. He’s surrounded by a collection of different city icons. These images were selected by the community and include designs like the face of former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, a taco, chips and salsa, a rattlesnake. All of these images can be viewed three dimensionally if you have 3-D glasses of your own.

Though the sculpture has been vandalized in the past, the community has grown more accepting and protective of the artwork. Hopefully, this will ensure everyone can enjoy the beauty of this innovative artwork, with or without their own 3-D glasses, for generations to come.