Yes And, celebrated as the most successful to date for its ability to create shared civic experiences and lasting value
Columbus, Indiana — As the 2025 Exhibit Columbus Exhibition, Yes And, closed on Sunday, November 30, Landmark Columbus Foundation celebrates a program defined by bold ideas, joyful gatherings, and a deepened commitment to shaping Columbus’ public spaces. From the record crowds who attended the 2025 Exhibit Columbus Opening Weekend to a full fall of events, tours, and experiences, Yes And affirmed the power of design to bring people together and modelled how residents can imagine new futures for a city.
“This was our most successful cycle of Exhibit Columbus,” said Richard McCoy, Executive Director of Landmark Columbus Foundation, the organization that produces Exhibit Columbus. “After 10 years, we understand the impact this program creates and how each installation leads to lasting change. This cycle will live on for so many—from the 3rd and 6th graders who toured the exhibition to everyone who experienced it—and through the installations that will remain in place or move to new locations across the city.”
Presented across downtown Columbus from August 15 to November 30, the fifth exhibition featured thirteen outdoor, site-responsive installations created in partnership with local organizations and inspired by the city’s modern design legacy. Thousands of residents and visitors toured and explored the installations, participated in events, and engaged in conversations about creativity, identity, and connection.
A Season Filled With Free Cultural Events
Following an opening weekend filled with designer-led tours, live performances, block-long celebrations, and curatorial conversations, the exhibition anchored one of Columbus’ most active fall seasons to date. The calendar included:
Yes And Opening Weekend Events: Party on the Avenue of the Architects, Curatorial Conversation, Installation Activations, Exhibition Tour, and the Rooftop Happy Hour.
Four J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize Conversations produced in partnership with Indiana Humanities and the Indiana University J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program.
2025 Next Generation Day hosted in collaboration with the Council for Youth Development and the Bartholomew County Public Library.
The 3rd Annual Rock the Block was held under InterOculus and produced in partnership with the Columbus Pride Festival.
2025 University Design Research Fellowship Colloquium: YES Design—AND Research produced in collaboration with the Indiana University J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program.
Exhibition tours for more than 600 6th-grade students in the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC) schools, as well as architectural tours for 3rd-grade students in partnership with kidscommons.
Two BCSC Senior Projects: Art in Ellipsis, an art show with Maria Ramas, and The Crump Craft Carnival with Ava La Plante.
10 Years of Exhibit Columbus, a tribute exhibition installed at the Bartholomew County Historical Society.
Additional community exhibitions, including Alexander Girard, Reverberations—Forever at the Columbus Area Arts Council; Cheap Opulence at the Columbus Area Visitors Center; and many other events across the downtown.
These events—spanning arts, heritage, community gatherings, and design research—ensured that Yes And was not only an exhibition, but an evolving platform for shared experiences.
The Lasting Impact of the Yes And Cycle
Building on the momentum of the past cycle, Public by Design (2022–23), this cycle’s theme of Yes And invited contributors to explore the legacy of Columbus and add to the multiple and overlapping lives of buildings and spaces. Originating in improv theater, Yes And was conceived by a team of seven Curatorial Partners: Could Be Design, Mila Lipinski, Rasul Mowatt, Preservation Futures, and Too Black. A technique for affirming and building upon an idea to create a shared narrative, Yes And was a participatory call to work from existing material to shape positive change.
In essence, Yes And asked the community and participants to say “yes” to Columbus’s existing cultural legacy, and then add their own “and.” These were new ideas, designs, and collaborations that temporarily built the next chapter of the city’s design story for all to see.
Over the past two years, the program demonstrated that:
Design can be a Shared Civic Experience: Exhibit Columbus transforms public space into a platform for dialogue, creativity, and community connection. By commissioning outdoor, site-specific installations that are made available for free, it invites residents and visitors of all ages to explore design not as something remote or elite, but as something lived, shaped, and shared. → It shows residents how to see their city with new eyes and see themselves as part of its story.
Long-Term Social Infrastructure Can Emerge from Temporary: Exhibit Columbus seeds enduring relationships, projects, and values. Through collaborations with local institutions, educators, and civic leaders, each cycle leaves behind a stronger cultural ecosystem and physical installations that continue to serve the community. → It models how ephemeral creativity can lead to lasting transformation in the public realm.
Columbus is a Global Design Capital Rooted in Local Values: Columbus is known worldwide for its modern architecture and civic design, and Exhibit Columbus affirms that legacy while ensuring it continues to evolve. By bringing global designers into direct conversation with the local context, the program reflects this design legacy and actively writes its future. → Each cycle underscores that great places should not be preserved in amber; they can be built together, over time, with care and imagination.
Installation Afterlife: A Lasting Legacy for Columbus
A defining achievement of the 2024–25 cycle is the number of installations that will remain in Columbus beyond the exhibition. For the first time, all of the J. Irwin and Xenias S. Miller Prize (Miller Prize), most University Design Research Fellowship (UDRF), and all other installations will stay in place or continue their lives elsewhere in Bartholomew County.
2024–25 Installations Continuing to Build Value:
Ellipsis by AD—WO (Miller Prize) will remain as part of ongoing revitalization efforts at the former Irwin Block building until this property is redeveloped.
Accessing Nostalgia by Adaptive Operations (Miller Prize) will continue serving The Crump Theatre as an active outdoor gathering space, supporting the venue’s next steps toward renovation and renewal.
Lift by Studio Cooke John (Miller Prize) will be reinstalled next spring at Columbus Youth Camp in partnership with the Foundation for Youth.
Joy Riding by Studio Barnes (Miller Prize) will be donated to a private individual in Columbus who has plans to make it available for occasional public use.
Apart, Together by Michael Jefferson & Suzanne Lettieri (UDRF) will become a permanent feature of Ovation Technology Group’s downtown plaza, joining future public art and community amenities.
Inside Out by Chandler Ahrens, Constance Vale, and Kelley Van Dyck Murphy (UDRF) will be reinstalled at the Columbus Area Visitors Center, a partner who is excited to continue exhibiting the tower, which is infilled with iconic Columbus interiors.
PUBLIC/SCHOOL/GROUNDS by César Lopez, Jess Myers, Amelyn Ng, and Germán Pallares-Avitia will be refinished by Columbus Area Career Connection (C4) architecture and construction high school students and used as a play area for future indoor events downtown.
The Steel Horsie by Andrew Fu, Aaron Goldstein, and Aleksandr Mergold (UDRF) was designed to be disassembled, and its parts returned to the entities from which they were borrowed.
Pool/Side by Akima Brackeen (UDRF) will be disassembled, and its parts will potentially find other uses.
A View of the World from Indiana by Sarah Aziz (UDRF) was deinstalled after Opening Weekend and is now in the possession of private individuals in Bartholomew County.
Installation identification signage created by Sing-Sing (Communication Design) will find a new home for display at the Columbus Municipal Airport.
The installations by both Design Education Teams will be returned to the educators who created them.
These afterlives demonstrate expanding enthusiasm among partners, leaders, and property owners to carry forward the ideas, structures, and shared experiences seeded by Exhibit Columbus.
“Everyone involved with this cycle worked tirelessly to ensure that the investments we make in this program will create value on multiple levels over time,” said McCoy. “While we believe that the process of building each installation in the exhibition is as important as the built work itself, knowing that these installations will live on is heartwarming.”
What’s Next for Exhibit Columbus
With the Yes And cycle now concluded, Landmark Columbus Foundation is already looking ahead to its next chapter of this celebrated program. The upcoming sixth cycle (2026–27) will carry forward the program’s mission with a new curatorial theme with a clear focus on community-centered design.
Exhibit Columbus operates on a two-year cycle of events. The next theme and participants are expected to be announced in 2026, kicking off another series of public conversations and art and design explorations that lead up to a 2027 exhibition. Building on the success of Yes And, the next cycle will once again invite architects, artists, and educators to collaborate with Columbus residents and organizations. Together, they will continue using art, architecture, and design to celebrate Columbus’s modern legacy and imagine its future, ensuring that the spirit of innovation and collaboration remains at the heart of the city’s cultural life.
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
Header photo: Ellipsis by AD—WO. Photo by Hadley Fruits.
