Columbus Interactive Street Art Project Accepted into Google Cultural Institute’s Global Arts & Culture Initiative
For Immediate Release
Monday December 12, 2016
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Greater Columbus Arts Council is proud to announce that its interactive street art project, Sign Your Art is now a part of the Google Cultural Institute’s Google Arts & Culture site.
Google Arts & Culture features content from more than 1,000 leading museums and archives who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the world's treasures online. Included in this incredible collection of the world’s art is an archive of street art from around the world— and the Arts Council’s Sign Your Art project is the second Columbus, Ohio street-art project to join the collection.
“Google is a global leader in showcasing innovative and world-class art,” said Tom Katzenmeyer, president and CEO, Greater Columbus Arts Council. “For dozens of Columbus artists to have a role in this worldwide showcase is a testament to the creativity and artistic talent that flows throughout our city.”
An innovative community project conceived and implemented by Columbus artists Stephanie Rond and Catherine Bell Smith, Sign Your Art started in summer 2015. First 64 Columbus artists, representing dance, film, music, performance and visual arts, were invited to paint 6” x 8” tiles, which were then used as inspiration at an interactive event at the 2015 Columbus Arts Festival. During the Festival more than 700 patrons sat down to create their own 6” x 8” works of art.
Later that summer more than 300 tiles were installed on sign posts throughout the city of Columbus for one month. Each sign post included one of the original 64 tiles and four of the community-made tiles. When pinned on a Google map the posts spelled the word ART across a map of Columbus.
The Sign Your Art project will return to the Columbus Arts Festival, June 9-11, 2017, and the same installation points are planned for mid-July 2017.
“While the physical citywide exhibition has come down for now, the documentation of the project and the artwork lives online thanks to this partnership with the Google Cultural Institute,” said Katzenmeyer. “This community-wide endeavor underscores the work we do at the Arts Council and the Arts Festival—providing access to the arts for people of all ages, as well as being a literal embodiment of our citywide marketing campaign, Art Makes Columbus/Columbus Makes Art.”
With captions and Google’s highly effective zoom and navigation features, visitors can explore all of the exhibited tiles, see where they were located in the city and learn more about the participating local artists.
Visit the online exhibition at https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/partner/columbus-sign-your-art-street-art
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About the Greater Columbus Arts Council: Through vision and leadership, advocacy and collaboration, the Greater Columbus Arts Council supports art and advances the culture of the region. A catalyst for excellence and innovation, GCAC funds exemplary artists and arts organizations and provides programs, events and services of public value that educate and engage all audiences in our community. GCAC thanks the City of Columbus and the Ohio Arts Council for their continued support.
About Art Makes Columbus/Columbus Makes Art: Art Makes Columbus/Columbus Makes Art is the theme of a sustained five-year campaign to demonstrate the vitality, the innovation and the connectivity within the Columbus arts community. Highlighting the personal stories and artistic ventures of local individual artists from across all disciplines, this unprecedented collaboration between and within the arts, business and philanthropic communities underscores how deeply ingrained creativity is in the fabric of Columbus. Art Makes Columbus/Columbus Makes Art features a cutting-edge website, columbusmakesart.com, with an interactive calendar that serves as an all-encompassing, go-to resource for arts events, showings, activities and tickets. Engaging videos of Columbus artists telling their own stories are housed on the website. The campaign can be seen around Central Ohio via digital billboards, movie theaters, concert venues, social and print media, electronic and digital advertising, and public service announcements.
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