PROJECT
The Time and The Temperature
Custom-built commercial sign with scrolling LED panel; live computer feed of the temperature in Tehran, Iran
ARTIST
Jon Rubin
Pittsburgh, PA
January–June 2013
Corner of South Lazelle and East Broad Streets
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OVERVIEW
Jon Rubin responded directly to the curatorial premise that Finding Time presented to participating artists with his project’s explicit connection to the concept of time. His project consisted of a custom-made sign, similar to ones commonly seen in front of businesses, churches, and schools throughout the U.S. that give the exact time and temperature of the location where they are installed. Rubin's sign, however, told the current time and temperature in Tehran, Iran—a city geographically distant from Columbus yet frequently in our news.
The Time and The Temperature presented a moment when the space between here and there collapsed and the citizens of Columbus could temporarily project themselves into a foreign place and circumstance. Throughout the run of the project, public forums with cultural, religious, academic, and political leaders discussed some of the complicated issues at stake in U.S. and Iranian relations.
This Finding Time project was selected for an Americans for the Arts Public Art Network 2014 Year in Review Award.
RELATED EVENTS
Conversation on the issues raised by The Time and The Temperature with artist Jon Rubin. January 30, 2013, 5:30 pm, Trinity Episcopal Church, 125 East Broad Street. Participants: The Rev. Richard A. Burnett, Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church; Malcolm Cochran, Program Director and Curator; Richard Herrmann, Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science, The Ohio State University Joyce Garver Keller, Executive Director, Ohio Jewish Communities; and Jon Rubin.
»Roya Hakakian, Visiting Author, Otterbein University, Westerville, OH. April 9, 2013, 11:30 am, Riley Auditorium; 6:30 pm, Courtright Memorial Library, Otterbein University, Westerville, OH.
»Jon Rubin in conversation. March 27 and May 8, 2013, online at Columbus Underground.
»Lost and Found in Tehran: Contemporary Iranian Video. Thursday, June 20, 2013, 6 pm, Columbus Museum of Art Auditorium, 480 East Broad Street.
PRIMARY SUPPORT
The Columbus Foundation: The Jeffrey Fund, Roy V. and Eloise F. Thomas Fund, The Robert F. Werner Fund, and The Columbus Public Art 2012 Fund
SPECIAL THANKS
Trinity Episcopal Church
DāNite Sign Co.
Ferd Kirby
Leo Campos
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