On October 13th, ArtLifting and Google came together to celebrate the launch of a new art exhibition on Google’s Cambridge campus. Titled Lines In Motion, the exhibition features a curated selection of nine artworks created by Boston-based artist Scott Benner.
On stage with Brian Cusack, Industry Director at Google, ArtLifting Artist Scott Benner answers questions about his creations.
Google Real Estate Project Executive John Moran, who worked with ArtLifting to develop this partnership, explains that Google took an interest in featuring ArtLifting artists as part of a larger goal to “create spaces that inspire and help cultivate innovation.” He continues, “Our mission with Google is to create amazing work environments and experiences…We hope this artwork will positively influence the daily work of our Cambridge Googlers.” Equally important to Moran is the impact the Google Real Estate Project is making on artists in the local community. He declares, “the best part” of the partnership is “the social mission driving this work.”
The exhibition guide encouraged visitors to view the works "up close in order to fully appreciate their labyrinth-like design."
Benner began his relationship with art at a young age, doodling on graph paper left around the house by his father, an electrical engineer. After a series of events left him homeless and without a job, Benner found solace in art creation and saw that others were also touched by his work. Since joining ArtLifting, Benner has massed an ever-growing portfolio and has found housing. Benner does not, however, plan on stopping anytime soon: “My focus right now is really working on my art as a full-time thing. This is the first time in my whole life that I can focus this way.”
Benner proudly presents his work.
“We saw in this an opportunity to use art as a way of engaging the community, to get them exposed to an organization that we thought was doing something interesting in this particular community,” Moran said to Artsy's Abigail Cain in an editorial on ArtLifting's corporate partnerships. “It’s about highlighting something that was started here in the Boston area, bringing it into the campus to expand that exposure to our Google community and to see what comes of that.”
Google plans to feature two other local ArtLifting artists on its Cambridge campus in the upcoming year as part of a new partnership between ArtLifting and Google called “art@Google” and hopes to create similar exhibitions on its campuses across the country.
