Exhibit Columbus announces curatorial theme and opportunity for community participation
“Yes And” originates from an improv theater technique and is an effort to use existing material to shape positive change.
Columbus, Indiana—Exhibit Columbus has announced the curatorial theme for the 2024–25 cycle of events: Yes And. This theme will drive all aspects of Exhibit Columbus, including the 2024 Symposium (24–25 October 2024), Design Presentations (February 21-22, 2025), and the Exhibition (August 15—November 30, 2025). All three events will be free and open to the public and will take place in downtown Columbus.
Yes And is the fifth cycle of Exhibit Columbus, first launched in 2016 as a program of the nonprofit organization Landmark Columbus Foundation. It is an internationally recognized exploration of community, architecture, art, and design. The program celebrates and advances Columbus’s modern legacy through a two-year cycle of events.
"This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate how civic life is additive and when most successful, affirming and deeply cooperative,” said the Curatorial Partners. “For the fifth cycle, we’re excited to collaborate with the distinct communities of Columbus to demonstrate how this work can be a model and resource for cities worldwide."
2024–25 Curatorial Theme, Yes And
Yes And is an invitation to explore the legacy of Columbus by adding to the multiple and overlapping lives of buildings and spaces.
Originating in improv theater, Yes And is a technique for affirming and building upon an idea to create a shared narrative. It is a participatory call to work from existing material to shape positive change.
Through a cycle of events, Exhibit Columbus will encourage the public to collaborate in the creation of the ongoing performance of the city. Whether we’re recovering architectural remnants, reflecting on cultural legacy, staging a dramatic spectacle, or reimagining public play, Yes And invites everybody to the public spaces of Columbus to expand what forms of togetherness and collaboration are possible.
“This theme expresses a historical understanding of how Columbus developed into one of the country’s most innovative and beautiful cities while also challenging all of us to continue this legacy into the future,” said Richard McCoy, the executive director of Landmark Columbus Foundation.
Yes And will come alive this fall at the Symposium
Starting with the Community Kickoff in June and continuing into the 2024 Symposium in late October, the public will have opportunities to map their “favorite places” of Columbus through engagement exercises, voice memos, notecards, and forms. The place-based, personal, and iconic reflections of the community will be amplified and celebrated in the design process. This act welcomes and encourages the public to play a part in the ongoing creation of the city in one or more ways to mark history. Through this work, the theme represents a collaborative effort to make the most of what exists to create better outcomes for all.
The 2025 Exhibition will feature temporary installations throughout downtown by J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize Recipients, University Design Research Fellows, High School Design Team, and Communication Designer. The installations will grow from the ideas explored in the 2024 Symposium, site studies, collaborations with community partners, and the participant’s interpretation of the theme, Yes And. The installations will be inventive destinations that will serve Columbus’ downtown core in ways that embrace positivity and reciprocity. This cycle will model how cities can provide community, art, and design support by working from what exists to shape positive change.
2024–25 Exhibit Columbus Curatorial Partners
Could Be Design: Joseph Altshuler and Zack Morrison
Architects
Chicago and Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
Mila Lipinski
Architectural Designer
Jackson, Mississippi
Rasul Mowatt
Writer and Educator
Raleigh, North Carolina
Preservation Futures: Elizabeth Blazius and Jonathan Solomon (FAIA)
Preservationists, Architect and Historian
Chicago, Illinois
Too Black
Artist and Poet
Indianapolis, Indiana
The Curatorial Partners form the core of the curatorial team and are charged with creating and advancing the theme of this cycle of Exhibit Columbus. They have notable backgrounds, representing a depth of experience in architecture, history, design, writing, and performing arts. Each curator has worked with people and within groups to bring a thoughtful and artistic approach to collaborating within diverse communities.
Open Call to be a Community Partner and to host an installation
Exhibit Columbus invites organizations and/or businesses to submit a statement of interest to be an Exhibit Columbus Community Partner and to host a University Design Research Fellows (UDRF) and/or a High School Design Team (HSDT) installation in downtown Columbus. As a Community Partner, the organization/business entity will act as a “client” in coordination with the Exhibit Columbus Curatorial Team, Landmark Columbus Foundation Staff, and UDRF/HSDT participants.
To learn more about and/or submit an application of interest to participate in Exhibit Columbus as a Community Partner, visit this link and complete the form.
This open call centers Yes And as an effort for existing and new partners to get involved in Exhibit Columbus and help move it forward. It is an opportunity to build upon the multiple and overlapping lives of buildings, public spaces, and places.
Media Contact
Jamie Goldsborough
jamie@landmarkcolumbus.org
About Exhibit Columbus
Exhibit Columbus is a feature program of Landmark Columbus Foundation and an exploration of community, architecture, art, and design that activates the modern legacy of Columbus, Indiana. It creates a cycle of programming that uses this context to convene conversations around innovative ideas and commissions site-responsive installations in a free public exhibition. exhibitcolumbus.org
