Art and technology will converge this weekend in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

The Innovation Collective has partnered with the Los Angeles-based art development company Visual Artists Group to create a new artist residency — a sort of exchange program in which visiting artists teach classes and create public art pieces in Coeur d’Alene, while Coeur d’Alene-based artists do the same in other communities.

Internationally acclaimed artist Tofer Chin will create a mural on the back wall of Row Adventures, near the Innovation Collective complex at 418 E. Lakeside Ave. Chin has created art for Nike, Google, Converse and other brands.

“I always consider the business I am working with, as well as the local community, to try to represent the things that they find essential,” Chin said in a press release. “Much of my work has been completed in small communities that have specific geographic or cultural traits that incorporate into the final work.”

Titled “CONVERGENCE,” the mural is a site-specific piece created to honor the natural beauty of Lake Coeur d’Alene and the surrounding area. Angular shapes represent the city, Chin said, and “the movement suggested by the slight lean” represents people moving from their homes to enjoy the lake.

Chin will also lead free workshops this weekend, along with Mariana Orkenyi, one of Los Angeles’s preeminent lifestyle and meditation coaches. She also founded Communal, a holistic life coaching, training and meditation space in Los Angeles.

Workshops will be hosted at the Innovation Collective complex. Chin will present a children’s workshop on Saturday at 11 a.m., while Orkenyi leads two mindfulness classes, Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. A mural celebration open house will be Sunday at 3 p.m.

The partnership between the Innovation Collective and Visual Artists Group began after VAG founders Justin Gilanyi and Rebecka Jackson-Moeser “fell in love with the surroundings and the lake” after visiting Coeur d’Alene a few years ago. They were also impressed by the amount of public art on display in Coeur d’Alene.

“It’s unique in Coeur d’Alene that you have so much public art,” Gilanyi said, referring to bike racks, statues and even painted utility boxes throughout the city. “There’s a beautification component. There’s an acknowledgement of the creative process. And there’s participation.”

Because public art is accessible at all times, Gilanyi said, there’s a constant dialogue between the public and the artist, from a child riding a tricycle in McEuen Park to an adult walking past a downtown bike rack made of forks.

“We were excited by the possibilities of art and tech,” Gilanyi said. “What a great opportunity to bring artists to Coeur d’Alene from Los Angeles and New York, and also to have artists from Coeur d’Alene go to other places.”

In fact, the next collaboration will feature Coeur d’Alene photographer Adam Schluter at an installation in Los Angeles.

The goal of the residency program is to give the community a chance “to experience art in a different way,” Gilanyi told The Press, with an emphasis on integrating art and technology. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

“There’s been so much emphasis on the tech angle that sometimes people feel intimidated,” he said. “But there are other access points for people to enter the tech space.”

Gilanyi pointed out that art and science can come together in unexpected ways. For example, Chin uses math to plan his mural and a computer program to mock up the design.

“Art and tech are not separate,” Gilanyi said. “It all works together.”