Carla Clark | For The Republic People mingle during the 2023 Exhibit Columbus, Public by Design, presentations at the Commons, Columbus, Ind., Saturday, February 25, 2023.
Exhibit Columbus’ curatorial partners have announced the curatorial theme for the 2024–25 cycle of events: “Yes And.”
It 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 (Oct. 24-25), Design Presentations (Feb. 21-22, 2025), and the Exhibition (Aug. 15—Nov. 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 Landmark Columbus Foundation. Exhibit Columbus is an internationally recognized exploration of community, architecture, art, and design.
The program celebrates and advances Columbus’s Modernist architectural legacy through a two-year cycle of events.
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.
“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 in a press release statement. “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.”
“Yes And” is an invitation to explore the legacy of Columbus by adding to the multiple and overlapping lives of buildings and spaces.
Through a cycle of events, Exhibit Columbus will encourage the public to collaborate in the creation of the ongoing performance of the city. Whether people are 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, organizers said.
Starting with the 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.
Looking ahead, 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 the 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.
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 and/or a High School Design Team 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 exhibitcolumbus.org/ and complete the form.
Want to host an installation?
Exhibit Columbus organizers 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 and/or a High School Design Team 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 exhibitcolumbus.org/ 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, organizers said.
