As Columbus has celebrated its bicentennial in 2012, part of the festivities has been the fabulous explosion of public art. Finding Time: Columbus Public Art 2012 transformed our downtown into an open air gallery, with art placed in public spaces, plazas, parks, streets and alleys. The Finding Time projects have explored the physical and philosophical measurement of time. It seems that even cities reflect on the passage of time on their birthdays!
As the year comes to a close, a forum is being held to look at public art in Columbus. Looking Ahead: A Forum on Public Art in Columbus will be held at the Columbus Museum of Art on November 16 – 17. The forum kicks off on Friday from 5 – 7 p.m. with a reception celebrating the Finding Time program.
Saturday’s program runs from 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. The morning forum, How Do Cities Make Public Art Happen?, features a panel including Porter Arneill, Director/Public Art Administrator, Municipal Art Commission, Kansas City, MO; Peggy Kendellen, Public Art Manager, Regional Art & Culture Council, Portland, OR; Vince Reddy, AICP, Project Manager, LAND Studio, Cleveland, OH; moderated by Shelly Willis, Interim Director & Art in Public Places Director, Sacramento Municipal Arts Commission Curator, Finding Time: Columbus Public Art 2012.
Lunch will be served at noon (cost of 12.00 and required pre-registration), followed by the Keynote Address from Jason Schupbach, Director of Design Programs, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington DC.
The afternoon forum, Art and Design in the Public Realm: Perspectives from Finding Time, Participating Artists and Architects, begins at 1:30 p.m. The panel includes Jon Rubin, Assistant Professor of Art, School of Art , Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA; Janet Zweig, Brooklyn, NY, Senior Critic, Rhode Island School of Design, Adjunct Professor, Brown University, Graduate Program in Public Humanities; Blostein/Overly Architects, Beth Blostein, Associate Professor in Architecture, Bart Overly, Auxiliary Faculty in Architecture, Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University; Moderator, Malcolm Cochran, Professor, department of Art, The Ohio State University, Program Director, Finding Time: Public Art 2012.
Just as the artwork itself has been, the forum is free and open to all (except for the lunch). But if you’d like to attend, you must register by November 14 by emailing forum@columbuspublicart.com.