Franklinton Slingshot – Columbus, OH
Somebody in Columbus built a slingshot big enough to launch a Buick, planted it on a street corner, and called it public art. They were right to.
The Slingshot stands 20 feet tall, spans 12 feet, and weighs over 6,000 pounds. It went up in 2022 at the corner of Sullivant Avenue and Lucas Street in Franklinton, the arts district just across the river from downtown Columbus. The artist is Andrew Lundberg of Lundberg Industrial Arts, who lives in the neighborhood, and the developer Casto commissioned it for the corner of its River & Rich project. So yes, a real estate company paid for a giant weapon aimed down the street, and the neighborhood is better for it.
The detail that makes it work: the bands are drawn all the way back into a red pouch, and the thing holding the pouch is a giant stone hand bursting out of the bricks. The ground itself is doing the aiming. The plaque calls the piece “a visual reminder of our momentum as a community while maintaining the mischievous nature of the Artists that makes us who we are,” which is a lot of words for “we built a huge slingshot because it’s awesome,” but they earned it.
It’s also a stop on the Franklinton Arts District Audio ArtWalks Tour: scan the QR code on the sign and Lundberg himself tells you about the piece. Climb the grassy levee behind it for the best angle, walk a lap around the stone hand, and you’re done in ten minutes. Free, always there, and ten minutes from downtown. If you’re anywhere near Columbus, go let your inner twelve-year-old size it up.
