Confluence: Public Art, Experimentation, and Engaged Communities

Through initiatives such as the Columbus Capital Line Project, organizations like Greater Columbus Arts Council, Columbus Museum of Art, and The Ohio State University, as well as galleries, artists, patrons, and publics, the City of Columbus has positioned itself as a vibrant city at the convergence of arts and community life. 

A collaborative endeavor between Columbus Museum of Art and The Ohio State University, Confluence: Public Art, Experimentation, and Engaged Communities is a multi-day convening connecting key ideas of art, science, collaboration, and exchange. Confluence invites artists, academics, curators, community members, and students to consider, define, and reflect on art in the public realm. 

Through dialogues and public gatherings, Confluence asks key questions such as: 

• What does collaboration look like in the 21st century?
• What is the future of public art in Columbus, and how has the city positioned itself to become a regional and national leader in the field? 
• In what ways are artists working at the intersection of art, science, and technology?
• What emerges from these forms of communication that reflect data through a visual lexicon?

Starting at the Columbus Museum of Art on Thursday, October 8, the convening will focus on site-specificity, immersive public art, and environmental installations, through an engagement with Janet Echelman’s Current (2023), a soft sculpture installed in downtown Columbus. Earthquakes, tsunamis, subways, and city infrastructure are at the core of Echelman’s practice. She creates sculptural installations through intentional engagements with landscapes, geographies, the impacts of climate, and communities. Informed by the geography of the city’s waterfront and grid, Current cascades over 220 feet along Gay Street. In dialogue with Ann Hamilton, Professor Emeritus, Department of Art, The Ohio State University, who was a Distinguished Professor in the department for a decade, and an artist whose work is also deeply committed to impactfully working with communities and at varying scales. 

The discussion on Friday, October 9 will be held at The Ohio State University, with a conversation focusing on intersections of art and science, histories of exploration, and impacts on the human experience, through the work of Josiah McElheny and Tavares Strachan, moderated by Kris Paulsen, Associate Professor and Chair of Undergraduate Studies of History of Art at The Ohio State University. 

Josiah McElheny will discuss his long-term collaborations with Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of Astronomy at The Ohio State University, David Weinberg, which started in 2004 during McElheny’s artist residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts. On the occasion of his solo exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art, The Day Tomorrow Began, Tavares Strachan will reflect on historical undercurrents in contemporary moments: centered on The Encyclopedia of Invisibility, looking at Matthew Henson, histories of exploration, and more. 

Full Schedule of Events

Thursday, October 8, 2026, 5:00 pm
Columbus Museum of Art

Dialogue between Janet Echelman and Ann Hamilton, where the artists will discuss site specificity, immersive public art, and environmental installations in Echelman’s work, including Current (2023) followed by a public reception with the artists.

Friday, October 9, 2026, 3:00 pm
The Ohio State University
Wexner Center for the Arts Film/Video Theater
1871 N High St, Columbus OH

Conversation focusing on the intersections of art and science alongside the histories of exploration through works of Josiah McElheny and Tavares Strachan, that engage with Columbus as a site. Focusing on McElheny’s collaborations with OSU faculty David Weinberg and Strachan’s The Encyclopedia of Invisibility, currently on view at the Columbus Museum of Art. Moderated by Kris Paulsen, Associate Professor of History of Art, The Ohio State University.
 

Saturday, October 10
Community event / arts workshop under Janet Echelman’s Current (2023)
Time TBC

Confluence Project Team

Columbus Museum of Art
Brooke Minto, Executive Director and CEO
 

The Ohio State University
Lisa Florman, Vice Provost for the Arts
Megan Cavanaugh, Campus Art Collection Manager

Michelle Brandt, Director, Brandt Gallery and Pecha Projects
Nannette Maciejunes, Executive Director Emerita, Columbus Museum of Art
Allison Glenn, Curator, 2026 Toronto Biennial and Curator, CARA Platform, Guatemala City