The Municipal Art Commission has approved Kansas City Spirit: Memory and Resilience, a new public artwork by Belgian artist duo Gijs Van Vaerenbergh, planned for Barney Allis Plaza in the heart of downtown. The installation seeks to transform the plaza into an iconic landmark and vibrant gathering space that both reflects Kansas City’s history and looks ahead to its future.
Artists Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh are recognized for large-scale works that merge art and architecture to reframe how people perceive and experience public space. Their practice—rooted in transparency, silhouette, and spatial perception—invites exploration and draws meaning from the identity of each site, making them an ideal choice for this transformative project.
For Barney Allis Plaza, the artists have drawn inspiration from one of Kansas City’s defining stories of resilience—the rebuilding of the Convention Hall in 1900. Originally opened in 1899 as a symbol of civic ambition, the Convention Hall was destroyed by fire less than a year later, three months before it was set to host the Democratic National Convention. In a remarkable display of determination and unity, the city rebuilt the hall in just 90 days. That feat is an enduring symbol of the Kansas City Spirit—a mindset rooted in perseverance, civic pride, and collective action.
About the Artwork
The new artwork reimagines the historic Convention Hall façade as a spatial drawing, rendered in a fragmented framework of steel profiles. Inspired by the building’s sudden loss and remarkable reconstruction, the form captures the resilience and determination that defined that moment in Kansas City’s history. Light and transparent, the work transforms the building’s silhouette into an abstraction, capturing the way memory evolves over time. It embraces the past while integrating with the present context, reinforcing the plaza’s role as a vibrant community and cultural hub.
Public Art Commission Selection Process
The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) elicited 251 submissions from around the world, including 13 artist teams from the Kansas City area. Led by Petrichor Projects and the City of Kansas City’s Public Art Administrator, the initiative included in-person information sessions and a three-day mentoring program at locations across the city.
The selection process introduced a curatorial model demonstrating how major civic commissions can be shaped through collaboration between museums, public art experts, and civic leadership. RFQ submissions were evaluated based on the following criteria: artistic excellence, relevant prior experience, site-specific sensitivity, and endurance. A Shortlist Committee composed of representatives from the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, and KCAI’s Emily and Todd Voth Artspace, narrowed the field to seven internationally acclaimed artists and studio finalists.
“We created a model that invited Kansas City’s leading cultural institutions to help shape the public realm, bringing their expertise and vision outside the gallery and into the city itself. Their participation in the shortlisting process elevated the dialogue and helped set the stage for a work that will redefine how we experience public art here,” said Tiffany Meesha Thompson, curatorial consultant and founding director of Petrichor Projects.
The finalists visited Kansas City for a multi-day site visit and presented their concepts in early June 2025 to a Final Selection Panel of representatives from the Municipal Art Commission (MAC), Kansas City Art Institute, and City Conventions. The MAC approved the artwork on August 8, 2025.
An ordinance for the final art concept contract will be introduced to the Kansas City Council in the coming months. The Barney Allis Plaza redevelopment is funded through Kansas City’s One Percent for Art program, administered by James Martin, the City’s public art administrator.
