How Atlanta Contemporary’s executive director is working to make sure the arts organization reflects the city
It sounds cliche to say the executive director of Atlanta Contemporary is laser-focused on elevating the vast array of talent that has gone uncelebrated in the city, but it’s true. This has actually been the case for Floyd Hall since before he took on the role nearly a year and a half ago.
The Atlanta native has long fostered and engaged in thoughtful, accessible conversations about the city’s history and how it has shaped the present day. Curiosity about these topics has been a throughline for much of his career, whether he was working as an artist, curator or writer, or cofounding the community-centered, nonprofit journalism organization Canopy.
When he stepped into the role of executive director last year, Hall took command of an organization that shares his ethos about the transformative and unifying power of art.
Founded by a group of photographers in 1973, Atlanta Contemporary started as a co-op gallery. More than 50 years later, the arts organization is known for producing multiple exhibits per year and having a community-centered approach to its programming. From artists talks to the Studio Artist Program, Atlanta Contemporary has played a consistent role in amplifying rising and noteworthy artists locally and beyond.
“I look at what we do the same way I look at parks and libraries. We are a public good for the well-being of our larger community,” he said. This year marks a decade since the art organization removed admission costs for guests. Despite the funding challenges that nonprofits in the arts often face, Hall said his goal is to make sure Atlanta Contemporary remains free for anyone interested in visiting the space.
The organization is based inside an industrial building with plenty of space for multiple indoor exhibits, as well as a gift shop. Its outdoor space features a large event space and a “secret garden.” Additionally, the property includes small studio spaces where rising artists can focus on their next project.
Hall’s priority is to continue to amplify these initiatives. So many Atlantans, he said, previously visited Atlanta Contemporary for an exhibit years ago or attended a wedding in the space but have failed to make it a part of their cultural ritual. He wants to invite these people back in while also reaching out to folks who have previously never stepped foot on the property.
But Hall has some new goals for the organization, too. While 13 artists are able to set up shop and work in a partially subsidized space on Atlanta Contemporary’s campus through the popular Studio Artist Program, Hall said he also wants to continue to support independent curators through a lesser-known program that the organization has been growing in recent years.
The executive director said his first year in the role consisted of trying to better understand the organization’s past while also creating a roadmap for its future. “We’re always sort of blending and living through recent and current history,” he said.
The current exhibits on display inside Atlanta Contemporary showcase the balancing act of trying to remain on the cutting edge of new artists while also paying homage to the works of the past.
“Christian Walker: The Profane and The Poignant” invites visitors to explore the career of the photographer, whose work engaged with topics such as “queer public sex, interracial intimacy, HIV/AIDS, censorship [and] drug use,” among other things, according to Atlanta Contemporary’s website.
Hall worked with Rosa Duffy, founder of For Keeps Books, to create a complimentary exhibit exploring Atlanta’s arts scene from 1984-1994, a time during which Walker was active in the city and published a work through Nexus (now Atlanta Contemporary).
Duffy’s “Tall and Wild” exhibit, which takes its name from W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches,” merges the bookstore owner’s archival work with her sculptural practice.
Hall said working with Duffy to create the exhibit felt like imagining what it might look like for her bookstore, which specializes in rare Black books, to exist within a museum. “For Keeps, to me, feels like a bit of a portal that is expanding with no sense of stopping or beginning of time. But, for here, it was like, how do we focus in? [The time period] was sort of an anchor,” Hall said.
Visitors are invited to touch the pieces that are on display, including a 1989 report from the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. The pamphlet showcases the projects the city was investing in during that year. It also lists Christian Walker as the recipient of the Mayor’s Fellowship in the Arts Award for that year. Elsewhere in “Tall and Wild,” Duffy compiled a list of literature created by artists who were visiting Atlanta during the time period.
Aside from her specific exhibit, Duffy said she was able to have talks with Hall about his overall vision for Atlanta Contemporary. “I think he really is intent on highlighting the talent that already exists here and not only doing fine artists and kind of reaching within this really kind of niche group of people. I think he’s trying to take from outside spaces and highlight a larger kind of range of interests and people that often aren’t kind of explored or tapped into through other spaces,” she said.
One example of this is Kristan Woolford’s K!n€t!c Dr£@m$ exhibit. The work — which features imagery of public figures ranging from Andrew Young to J. Cole imposed atop the “Atlanta” sign outside of State Farm Arena — was originally commissioned by Off the Wall, an organization that projects video art on the Atlanta Beltline at 725 Ponce. “These were pieces that you would have to encounter outside as you’re walking on the Beltline. And maybe you missed it, or maybe you heard about it [or] maybe saw it online. We’ve been able to present this work inside, in a more durational perspective,” Hall said.
The executive director said he views the exhibit as a look inside the mind of Woolford, a Stone Mountain native, whose mind is often holding space for hip-hop, community and social justice.
Through Sunday, Atlanta Contemporary attendees get to see the video art, in addition to Walker and Duffy’s exhibits, as an exploration of Atlanta’s artistic identity over the past 40 years.
Atlanta Contemporary
Open Thursday-Sunday. 11 a.m. - 8 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Free. 535 Means St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30318. atlantacontemporary.org.
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About the Author
Jewel Wicker is a native Atlantan who has covered hip-hop in the city for publications such as GQ, Pitchfork and Vice.
