Exhibit Columbus Announces University Design Research Fellowship Competition
Seeking full-time university/college professors to participate in the fifth cycle of Exhibit Columbus, Yes And.
Columbus, Indiana—Landmark Columbus Foundation (LCF) has announced the curatorial theme for the fifth cycle of Exhibit Columbus. Yes And originates from an improv theater technique and is an effort to use existing material to shape positive change. This theme will drive all aspects of Exhibit Columbus, including the 2024 Symposium (24–25 October), 2025 Design Presentations (21–22 February), and the 2025 Exhibition (15 August—30 November).
Today, LCF announces the next step in the 2024–25 cycle: the University Design Research Fellowship Competition (UDRF), an open competition to attract the most innovative and thoughtful ideas that connect to this cycle’s theme. Over $100,000 will be awarded to full-time university and college professors in the United States from any area of design, architecture, art, or landscape architecture.
Since 2016, Landmark Columbus Foundation has invested more than $600,000 in growing the University Design Research Fellowship as a featured component of Exhibit Columbus, making it one of the most sought-after opportunities for professors in the United States. UDRFellows have consistently been outstanding participants in Exhibit Columbus, which creates a unique showcase of current design research at a scale rarely seen in the United States. In their projects, leading professors have provided quality educational opportunities for university students, translating into inspiring installations.
UDRFellows will be awarded to full-time university/college professors in any area of design, architecture, art, and landscape architecture. A successful applicant must participate in the 2024 Symposium (24–25 October), 2025 Design Presentations (21–22 February), and ultimately build a public installation that showcases their design research in the 2025 Exhibition (Opening Weekend 15–16 August). As a feature of the Fellowship and during the run of the exhibition, UDRFellows will also participate in the UDRF Colloquium that will be produced in partnership with the Indiana Communities Institute at Ball State University’s Miller College of Business and Indiana University’s Center for Cultural Affairs at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Additional support will be provided that will allow UDRFellows to participate in the UDRF Colloquium in fall 2025. The UDRF Colloquium is a unique way for UDRFellows to showcase their work in an academic setting and discuss their approaches to making and teaching.
This cycle, Exhibit Columbus is partnering with community organizations and businesses to enhance its downtown and create a more welcoming, diverse, accessible, and active city. Organizations and/or businesses have been invited to submit a statement of interest to be an Exhibit Columbus Community Partner and to host a UDRFellows installation. This open call centers Yes Andas an effort for existing and new partners to get involved in Exhibit Columbus and help move it forward. The Exhibit Columbus Curatorial Team will match-make winning UDRFellows to a Community Partner. The Community Partner and UDRFellow collaboration will entail site selection, site representation, and design collaboration to create an impactful installation.
“We are excited to update a key part of Exhibition Columbus, making it a more impactful component,” said Richard McCoy, Executive Director of Landmark Columbus Foundation, the parent organization of Exhibit Columbus. “Over the past eight years, we’ve worked with more than 30 professors who have leveraged their research into the UDRFellowship to advance and explore in the unique context of our community. This unique and highly visible platform showcases design research and education in a way like no other exhibition.”
Based on this Request for Qualifications process, UDRFellows will be shortlisted and selected by the Curatorial Partners. The 2024–25 Curatorial Partners are Could Be Design (Architects, Chicago and Urbana-Champaign, Illinois), Mila Lipinski (Architectural Associate, Jackson, Mississippi), Rasul Mowatt (Writer and Educator, Raleigh, North Carolina), Preservation Futures(Preservationists, Architect, and Historian, Chicago, Illinois), Too Black (Artist and Poet, Indianapolis, Indiana).
Competition Timeline
August 15, 2024
Request for Qualifications Announcement
August 26, 2024
All Questions Received for public Q&A process
August 31, 2024
Answers to Questions Released
September 12, 2024
Request for Qualifications Due
September 26, 2024
UDRF Selections Notified
2024–25 Exhibit Columbus Timeline
October 25–25, 2024
2024 Exhibit Columbus Symposium
February 21–22, 2025
2025 Exhibit Columbus Design Presentations
June–August, 2025
Fabrication/Installation
August 2025
Installation Completed and Installed on Site
August 15–16, 2025
Exhibit Columbus Exhibition Opening
Fall 2025
2025 UDRF Colloquium
November 30, 2025
Exhibition Closes
December 2025
Installations Decommissioned
For more details and to apply, visit the Exhibit Columbus UDRF Competition webpage.
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
