Cultural Intersections: A collaborative public artwork proposal

Cultural Intersections was the output from a CENCIA funded Visiting Artist Residency, in Atlanta, USA, between February 9th-April 24th 2009 exploring creative approaches to public engagement and the development of urban space. The exhibition involved a collaboration between artists Paul Cosgrove and Professor George Beasley as Principal Investigators, undertaking scoping research to determine a process for consultation and collaboration through which to inform the development of a new public space within the city centre of Atlanta, at the intersection between institutional and public space. The exhibition included an installation of filmed and recorded interviews presented on a series of 10 monitors sited around the main curved balcony of the central stairwell, with the 'talking heads' of diverse respondents facing out into the space, each responding to questions on place; a large scale sculptural model and photographic documentation. The works presented a response to the many publics of GSU and the wider Atlanta community who all shared a vested interest in and aspiration for a new public space.