It’s time to take the last spin, Atlanta.
The last chance for spectators to spin the participatory art piece “Rockspinner,” which sits at the corner of Peachtree and 10th streets, will be April 3, Midtown Alliance officials announced earlier this week. The art piece will be placed at another urban area elsewhere that has yet to be announced, according to the Alliance, a member-based coalition of businesses and community leaders with the goal of improving Midtown.
“The time has come to say farewell to our beloved Rockspinner,” read a statement on Midtown Alliance’s website. “We have a new and intriguing art piece coming this summer to the corner of Peachtree Street and 10th Street. Stay tuned for updates.”
The inventive public art display, a 22,000-pound boulder sitting upon a spinning axle, brought a unique interactive art experience to Midtown Atlanta in 2013. Atlanta artist Zachary Coffin first debuted the piece at Burning Man, an annual art event in Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The boulder was discovered in 2001 in the Nevada mountains. Midtown Alliance eventually asked to lease the piece to add something singular and sensational to the heart of the city.
“It’s all in the name of public art,” Kevin Green, president and CEO of the Midtown Alliance, said in a previous interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’ve been looking for ways to improve the public realm and the experience in Midtown and at the same time, we’ve been looking creatively at how to create public spaces where they weren’t before, so we worked a deal with the property owner to lease this corner for a dollar a year.”
In a tribute video, "Rockspinner: The Rockumentary," Midtown Alliance employees have fun with their farewell to the sculpture.
“It’s been a fixture here in our community, said Lauren Bohn, project manager for urban design and placemaking for Midtown Alliance, “It’s success has inspired similar installations around the world.”
Since the announcement, Atlantans have posted tributes and said their goodbyes via social media.
Construction crews will begin removing the display early next week.
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