Exhibit Columbus: Design, Community, and Progressive Preservation

Richard McCoy will discuss his work as the founding director of Landmark Columbus, a new organization in Columbus, Indiana dedicated to caring for the city’s design heritage while using it as an example to inspire others to invest in the value of good design to make communities better. Columbus is home to more than 80 buildings, landscapes, and public works of art created by internationally renowned architects and artists (seven buildings are National Historic Landmarks).

He will discuss the ideas behind creating Exhibit Columbus, which alternates programming between symposium and exhibition years. The 2016 symposium, “Foundations and Futures,” created the theoretical groundwork for the 2017 exhibition while introducing the J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize Competition. The 2017 exhibition featured 18 site-responsive outdoor installations that energized spaces in and around Columbus’ masterpieces of modern architecture, creating new ways to experience Columbus for residents and visitors. The exhibition has been critically acclaimed and hailed by many as the launching point of a design renaissance in Columbus, Indiana.

McCoy’s talk will also explore how Exhibit Columbus is working as a “progressive preservation” effort to grow a community that is dedicated to caring for Columbus’ design heritage.

Richard McCoy is the founding director of Landmark Columbus, an organization dedicated to caring for and celebrating the world-renowned design heritage of Columbus, Indiana. Landmark Columbus is best known for its program Exhibit Columbus which alternates programming between symposium and exhibition years.