Culture Works Unveils Think Freedom- Local Students Collaborate with Sarajevo Artist for NATO
Culture Works, the Miami Valley’s United Arts Fund and Local Arts Agency unveiled Edina Seleskovic’s powerful art installation, Think Freedom, in the Rotunda of the Dayton Arcade to area arts supporters, executives, and community leaders this morning. A powerful multidisciplinary art project, Think Freedom features hundreds of suspended metal birds, each inscribed with messages of peace and freedom written by people around the world, including area junior high students from Dayton, Franklin, and Troy. Timed specifically to coincide with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Dayton and the 30th Anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord, this is “Think Freedom’s” first appearance in the United States. Think Freedom will be open to the public May 27 until June 2.
Culture Works President & CEO, Lisa Hanson, led the program that included a special performance by Tim Shafer (piano), K. Frazier Robinson (violin), and DCDC dancers, Devin Baker and Countess Winfrey. Speakers in the program included: Jason Galanes, Chief of Staff for U.S. Representative Michael Turner; Diane Farrell from the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District; Megan Dunn Peters from the Dayton Arcade; and City of Dayton Poet Laureate Sierra Leone. Think Freedom Creator Edna Seleskovic closed the program with touching remarks and a short question and answer session.
“I believe that art still has the universal power to inspire, that art can give impulses of hope, imagination, and creativity in order to build freedom and connectivity – simply put, to build a better world,” said Edina Seleskovic, Creator, Think Freedom. “Think Freedom is a unique way of art metamorphosing from an object into a beacon of communication and community. I am honored for the installation that began in Sarajevo; after traveling to 22 cities globally, it is now in Dayton and in the beautiful Arcade Rotunda.”
Combining sculpture, installation, performance, light, sound, film, text, and digital media, the project bridges generations through the universal language of art. Students from City Day Academy (Dayton); Franklin Junior High School (Franklin); and, Van Cleve Middle School (Troy) met with Seleskovic in April through a Zoom call where she told her story and answered questions about her life and career. The students were then challenged write personal messages of “What Freedom Means to Me,” which are inscribed on the sculpture’s wings alongside other young voices from around the globe. Their words will travel with the exhibit as a permanent part of the sculpture.
Additionally, area art students assisted Seleskovic in the Rotunda to bring the installation to life: Jesper Beckholt (Sinclair College), Riley Birkhold (The Modern College of Design), Chris Butler (Sinclair College), Megan Conn (The Modern College of Design), Whitney Johnson (University of Dayton), Alexis McCormick (Wright State University), and Kyler Runk (Wright State University).
Think Freedom was generously sponsored by the Dayton Arcade, Culture Works, and the Montgomery County Arts and Culture District. Another contributor to the sculpture’s installation was Shawn Huey of Legacy Event Group. He and his staff spent three days meticulously following Seleskovics’ instructions attaching the birds to cables strung in the Rotunda of the Dayton Arcade.
How to See Think Freedom
Think Freedom will be on display from May 21 through June 2 during regular business hours and in the evening unless a private event is in the Rotunda. Accessibility is limited while the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is in Dayton. From May 27 to May 30, the Rotunda will be open in the evening featuring live entertainment from 5pm-8pm. Patrons can enjoy dinner and drinks at Gather and Table 33, music, and marvel at the Think Freedom sculpture.
Related: The Dayton Peace Sign