VISUALS
Curating Columbus Public art is all about collaboration By Sarah Robinson
THANKS TO THE Greater Columbus
Arts Council, everyone in central Ohio knows “Columbus Makes Art.” But how exactly is that art chosen for the Columbus Museum of Art? Tyler Cann, director of exhibitions and Pizzuti family curator of contemporary art for the Columbus Museum of Art, knows exactly what it takes to curate public art. It is, after all, his job. This year’s “As a public art museum, Best of we’re always thinking about the ’Bus how the work we show will winner for Best Public speak to broad audiences,” Art Display he says. “It is a matter of is the trying to present works in a Columbus Museum way that feels relevant and of Art. meaningful to us, as well as to the broad range of people who might be coming through the doors or just walking past the museum.” For those walking past the museum, Karnak by Paul Feeley, a set of nine 20-foottall painted aluminum squiggles, tends to catch the eye. “As you move around that work, it changes a lot,” Cann says. “It’s really dynamic, almost kinetic, and it’s always gratifying to see people inside that work walking around or playing hide and seek. For us, it really provides a kind of welcoming and fun experience right at the entrance to the museum.” Much of the artwork included in CMA’s exhibits are from the museum’s own collection, which often helps inspire and inform the curatorial process for arranging new exhibitions. “There are certain themes that emerge within (the collection),” Cann says, “and 32
cityscenecolumbus.com | July/August 2021
Paul Feeley, Karnak (Sculpture Court), 1966, Painted aluminum, Gift of the Jeff and Lisa Edwards Family and the Estate of Paul Feeley, Photo by Luke Stettner.
so it’s a matter of, in a way, grouping works together. I always call it a conversation between works, that is really important to me. It’s sort of like what one work says when it’s next to something else, and what story can we tell about that relationship.” Two of the current exhibitions at the museum were curated in collaboration with The Ohio State University’s department of art history, bringing students and professors behind the scenes. A Primer on the Commons shows works in large part from CMA’s collection, with added works from both local and national artists. The exhibition focuses on the idea of the commons, public spaces and how modern-day society interacts with them. “It’s a really exciting exhibition that thinks rather broadly about some of the issues that we are facing in contemporary life right now, the upheavals of the moment,” Cann says.
When one is curating an exhibit such as A Primer on the Commons, thought goes into every detail, from, selecting art and artists to the arrangement of pieces in the room to the detailed descriptions accompanying each piece to provide context for the artwork. “It’s one thing to put some stuff in a room,” Cann says, “but it’s another to tell the story about why it’s in that room.” Art history students worked diligently to determine many of those details, so the curatorial process was truly a collaboration. “It’s wonderful to be engaging with and working with a group of students in the process of making an exhibition,” Cann says. “There are some artists that the students brought to the table as somebody that they would like to work with, so they were definitely quite involved.” The second collaborative exhibition on view at CMA, Partially Buried: Land-
