Exhibit Columbus, Designed by the Public, Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO (Joe Hren, WFIU/WTIU News)
Thousands of community members and visitors ushered in Exhibit Columbus featuring 13 new works of art and architecture throughout downtown. The exhibit is up through the end of November.
Executive director of the Landmark Columbus Foundation Richard McCoy tells us more about the fourth installation of public design.
Joe: "Let's just start with this year's exhibit. Now tell us a little bit about how the ball gets rolling on it and how it comes to be."
Richard: "Here we are at the fourth exhibition of Exhibit Columbus. And while we're here today, this whole project started nearly two years ago when we rebuilt an entire cycle of events to think about how we can advance the legacy of Columbus, Indiana, with our community through art, architecture and design. And so to get here, we've selected 13 artists and architects. We've had a symposium last year, we had design presentations this spring, and now we're in the middle of the exhibition."
Joe: "How does this get funded?"
Richard: "So there's nothing in the state of Indiana or really around the country quite like Exhibit Columbus. It's a big project with 13 temporary installations of art and architecture. And we spend about a million and a half dollars over two years to run this entire cycle. We're really fortunate to receive generous funding from this community around the state. And we've won a number of national and international grants to make this possible. We do receive some funding from the city of Columbus. And we also received generous support from Cummins and a number of individuals, foundations, and a lot of small donors as well."
Joe: "So we have 13 installations and you kicked it off already. How did the kickoff go?"
Richard: "Oh, man. So at the end of August, we had the opening weekend for Exhibit Columbus, which was really amazing. We really focused on doing things with our community, coming out of the pandemic, finding ways to gather in public space. And we had a what we think was one of our best days ever with Exhibit Columbus, a couple Saturdays ago. We had all of the artists and architects in town, huge community support. And then we ended the day with a dance party under this installation in the middle of downtown called InterOculus. And this dance party was Columbus at its best. It was dancers from around the world. Indian dancers, Japanese dancers, American dancers, and then it ended with African American dance troupe that kind of brought everybody together in this, this event that people are still talking about today."
Joe: "Wow. I mean, you kind of touched on it, but as a whole, this not only brings people together as a community, but it brings people from the outside, too?"
Richard: "Yeah. So Exhibit Columbus is really built to advance the legacy of this place. But it's also to invite people right now to downtown Columbus, Indiana. You know, our downtown, like many others across the nation, you know, they're still trying to figure out what they do in a post-pandemic world where there's not as many employees working downtown and there's a shift in the way we're using downtowns. And so what we really want to do is to focus our community on getting involved with downtown, and then invite everybody from around the world to come see Columbus, Indiana, one of Indiana's most special cities. It's known for art and architecture around the world. We see people come from around the world to experience it. And right now there's an awesome reason to see it."
Joe: "And now there's a theme — there's always a theme, right? Can you talk about this year's theme?"
Richard: "So every year we theme the two year cycle of exhibit Columbus and we give it a title. This one is called Public By Design. And we're purposely trying to create meaningful connections with our community and people around the country in the public spaces we share. And we're seeing that every day. And in fact, just a few minutes before we were here, there were two or three families out here playing in this space. And so it's really working. We're seeing our community come out, but we hope it's just the start and that, next time I come here, there's 10 families hanging out."
Joe: "Yeah. So let's talk about this right here. Where are we? What are we looking at right here?"
Richard: "Well, this is awesome. I mean, this is truly off the charts. This is called Machi, and it is designed built by high school students in this county. It's crazy. This is a huge installation, all welded by students over the summer. And then they've selected and painted different things. They've custom fabricated these really cool sort of what they call a kit of parts. These can be seats or tables, and then they've made selfie boards for you to come and get your picture taken. This is a funny one. This is has the name Machi on it, but it often also references our Crump Theatre, which is a big preservation project going on. So these kids are clued in to what's happening in downtown Columbus, and they want to be a part of it. And so we're really wrapping our arms around that as well and saying, 'You know what? Downtown is about the next generation, and we're here for it."
Joe: "That's great. So I know we can't get to all 13 today. I'll come back on my own. Can you maybe just take us to another place and tell us a little bit about that exhibit?"
Richard: "Sure. Yeah, so there are 13 installations to see. And it's a great sort of mile-and-a-half walk around downtown. But if you had one place to start, I would start at the Columbus Area Visitor Center, and then go across the street to see the Bartholomew County Public Library, which is a sensational building unto itself. And it's right next to an awesome church. But in the middle of it, there's an installation by Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO, which is based in Mexico City. That studio's building stuff all around the world. They've created something here that is kind of a new way to think about what a library is. It's actually an external library where you can borrow things from the installations. It's bright blue, it's colorful, and there's some parts you can climb on."
Joe: "Yeah, and I saw was there some, like laminated menus or books?"
Richard: "Yeah, that's another installation right next to it by two professors of architecture at University of Virginia. It's called Scrapple. And what they've done is they've used pieces from around Columbus to build an installation. And they invited people to submit recipes. And so there's those things that are out there are actually recipes for you to come and think about how you can put things together."
Joe: "That's really cool. Now you got tell us about the big one downtown."
Richard: "Yeah, so there's a big one right in the middle of Fourth and Washington. And this is an installation called InterOculus. It's made by Practice for Architecture and Urbanism based out of New York. They're really doing a lot of amazing things. They're doing an expansion for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland. They're building a bridge in Indianapolis at 16 Tech. But here in Columbus, they made something called InterOculus. And they're trying to think about the center of Columbus in a new way. So we worked with our partners in the city, removed stoplights in the middle of downtown, and then built this dome that also has lights that light up at night in all these different colors. It, like many of the pieces, has become a focal point for people to come downtown and experience what this is all about."
Joe: "I can't wait to go see that, I saw the renderings online. Tell us about another one downtown that we should go see."
Richard: "Well, I think one of the things that's amazing about Columbus is the global headquarters for Cummins is right here on Fifth Street. And it's a beautiful campus, has a beautiful park. We have three installations that kind of surround that all built by university professors. But that's also kind of an invitation to go out to Mill Race Park, one of the country's prettiest parks right in the middle of downtown. And there's a giant bamboo structure out there called Echoes of the Hill. It's a structure that's as big as a hill out there. And so I don't want to give out too much. I think you got to come see Columbus and you have to experience this for yourself, because it's about different moments that are small and intimate places for you to be in with friends. And then there's huge expansive places in Columbus for you to think about public space in its biggest way."
Joe: "That was great. Is there anything else I missed or anything else you want to say?"
Richard: "So exhibit Columbus is up through the end of November. But along the way, just about every weekend, there's something super cool in downtown Columbus. We have our events, but it seems like every weekend there's a festival with international folks or different things, different reasons to come downtown, and I hope people take advantage of it."
