As part of Columbus’ Bicentennial celebration, “Finding Time: Columbus Public Art 2012” joined with Brooklyn artist Janet Zweig and local organization TRANSIT ARTS to bring a new public art project to the capital city.

“Columbus Never…” is a public art project conceived by Zweig that, once completed, will be a generative sentence that will change over time according to what is added by Columbus residents and visitors throughout the year.

Malcolm Cochran, an Ohio State professor in sculpture and program director of “Finding Time,” said he’s excited to have Zweig among the more than 50 local, national and international artists involved in Columbus’ Bicentennial public art celebration.

“Artists were chosen by a team of curators from a long list of artists to consider,” Cochran said. “(Zweig) is a well-known artist and we are lucky to have her on board.”

Zweig chose the first few words of the sentence and the rest of the generative sequence will be chosen by her from a list of entries made online at Columbus Public Art’s website.

The generative sentence, known as the “Columbus never…” project, is on a wall of Key Bank along Broad Street. Words are scheduled to be added the first Tuesday and third Saturday of each month until the end of the year. The project kicked off in the spring, according to CPA’s website.

Four entries have been selected from those submitted and the phrase has grown to read, “Columbus never came here, but when the city sleeps, what our dreamers discover is that we have always created our own.”

“‘Finding Time’ is a program of contemporary public art in downtown Columbus. It’s an initiative to bring a broad range of different artists to Columbus with the long-term goal of making people aware of what public art is,” Cochran said. “Columbus doesn’t have a public arts program and most cities our size (do),” Cochran said.

TRANSIT ARTS, according to its website, is a youth art development program for ages 12 to 21 that offers interactive, multi-disciplinary arts workshops for free.

“Finding Time” brought on a parallel project, with Zweig’s “Columbus never…” through TRANSIT ARTS, Cochran said.

The end result of the collaboration is a video of Columbus natives and visitors responding to or continuing the generative sentence on the spot. Every time words are added to the generative sentence on the wall as part of “Columbus never…” TRANSIT ARTS makes a video to supplement the new words.

“Malcolm (Cochran) created a soapbox. We’re having citizens of Columbus get on the soapbox (as they) walk past. It’s kind of a time capsule of what people look like over the year,” said Katerina Harris, youth administrator at TRANSIT ARTS.

Keo Khim, a graphic designer and visual artist associated with TRANSIT ARTS, is the artist recording the video of respondents at the project site.

“We have a sign that explains the theme and (respondents) look up and ask questions. Sometimes it’s a slow process to get people to respond but it’s interesting,” Harris said.

Cochran said the video TRANSIT ARTS created shows the change in weather over the seasons as well as the change in clothing worn by those speaking the words.

“There’s a wide range of what people (have) said. It’s been unique,” said Jai Carey, performance artist and performance teacher at TRANSIT ARTS.

Of the many responses from passersby, Carey has a favorite.

“Columbus never came twice. That’s by far my favorite. It’s hard to top that one,” he said.

TRANSIT ARTS will be performing at the “Columbus never…” location noon Saturday, with the latest word(s) placed on the wall and more recordings of responses to be documented on video.

The generative sentence, known as the “Columbus never…” project, is on a wall of Key Bank along Broad Street. Words are scheduled to be added the first Tuesday and third Saturday of each month until the end of the year. The project kicked off in the spring, according to CPA’s website.

Four entries have been selected from those submitted and the phrase has grown to read, “Columbus never came here, but when the city sleeps, what our dreamers discover is that we have always created our own.”

“‘Finding Time’ is a program of contemporary public art in downtown Columbus. It’s an initiative to bring a broad range of different artists to Columbus with the long-term goal of making people aware of what public art is,” Cochran said. “Columbus doesn’t have a public arts program and most cities our size (do),” Cochran said.

TRANSIT ARTS, according to its website, is a youth art development program for ages 12 to 21 that offers interactive, multi-disciplinary arts workshops for free.

“Finding Time” brought on a parallel project, with Zweig’s “Columbus never…” through TRANSIT ARTS, Cochran said.

The end result of the collaboration is a video of Columbus natives and visitors responding to or continuing the generative sentence on the spot. Every time words are added to the generative sentence on the wall as part of “Columbus never…” TRANSIT ARTS makes a video to supplement the new words.

“Malcolm (Cochran) created a soapbox. We’re having citizens of Columbus get on the soapbox (as they) walk past. It’s kind of a time capsule of what people look like over the year,” said Katerina Harris, youth administrator at TRANSIT ARTS.

Keo Khim, a graphic designer and visual artist associated with TRANSIT ARTS, is the artist recording the video of respondents at the project site.

“We have a sign that explains the theme and (respondents) look up and ask questions. Sometimes it’s a slow process to get people to respond but it’s interesting,” Harris said.

Cochran said the video TRANSIT ARTS created shows the change in weather over the seasons as well as the change in clothing worn by those speaking the words.

“There’s a wide range of what people (have) said. It’s been unique,” said Jai Carey, performance artist and performance teacher at TRANSIT ARTS.

Of the many responses from passersby, Carey has a favorite.

“Columbus never came twice. That’s by far my favorite. It’s hard to top that one,” he said.

TRANSIT ARTS will be performing at the “Columbus never…” location noon Saturday, with the latest word(s) placed on the wall and more recordings of responses to be documented on video.