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Fayetteville artist reinterprets art barriers in Atlanta's new art park

Frequenting Atlanta's public parks and walkways one notices those that linger, often pausing to rest, think, sit, or sleep. With this in mind, Fayetteville artist Linda Stern designed a site-specific installation for Art in Freedom Park with the intention of giving the community an experience with installation art and to bring attention to the diverse community needs which exist in cities.

Composed of seven hammocks grouped "Christo style" under trees and along a walking path in Freedom Park, the installation is designed to accommodate peoples of all ages.

Identified with lifestyle aspects including escape, play, relaxation and camping, the hammocks, made of orange foamed PVC and polyester yarn held onto a PVC pipe by a sewn sleeve, incorporate visual elements of industrial, corporate, and residential expansion as well as the homeless' lifestyle of squatting and adaptive reuse.

The design of the Hammock installation gives the community the opportunity to contemplate and experience art as well as interact with it. Through interacting with the installation, art can be viewed as transitory to meet specific needs, creating new experiences for the viewer and participant, or bring to question how public parks meet the needs of the people they serve.

Questions may be posted at the hammock station to stir interaction and enlightenment. Sample questions include: How can a hammock enhance your experience? What effect does location, dislocation, or escape from familiar boundaries has on you? Is it wrong to lay down in public? How do you develop a relationship to this public space? If this were your bed, you would be home right now.

The artist notes, "If we consider that no place is a place until things have happened in it, are remembered, and recorded, we may realize the importance of contemporary art, intervention, and public art."

The artist hopes the public draws an understanding that art exposed in a public space has a function not to just commemorate or complement the environment, but to consider the role of serving the community.

Art Reinterprets Barriers: Hammocks for the Homeless is located in Freedom Park, on the corner of Moreland Ave and North Ave, near Little 5 Points, Atlanta.

On May 1, 2005 the Freedom Park Conservancy launched Art in Freedom Park, a temporary public art exhibit of 30 sculptures and site-specific installations. This inaugural exhibition establishing Freedom Park as an art park will run through September 18, 2005. Most of the artworks will be installed in Freedom Park for the duration of the event. However, some of the installations are designed to make only a brief appearance. Family-friendly free performances of music and dance and interactive workshops are scheduled on Sundays between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., weather permitting. With a dynamic and changing array of artworks, performances and events, the goal is to encourage Atlanta residents and tourists to explore the park frequently as each visit promises a new experience.

Freedom Park is located along Freedom Parkway from Boulevard to Ponce de Leon Avenue on the north and Candler Drive and the Mary Lin Elementary School on the east.

See www.artinfreedompark.org for details on the art and the artists, and regular event updates.