Organizers say the expanded, upcoming national symposium for Exhibit Columbus could attract double the 1,000-plus crowd it drew two years ago. The four-day event will culminate with presentations from five Miller Prize Winners who will build the featured, temporary installations in next year’s exhibition.
The expanded format for the Sept. 26 through 29 gathering, an exploration of art, architecture and design, includes an opening day at the sponsoring Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. It will include a panel discussion examining the design-focused approaches to corporate philanthropy implemented by leaders in the field, including the Cummins Foundation. Mary Chandler, the Columbus-based foundation’s chief executive officer, will be part of that panel.
The gathering officially is called The 2018 National Symposium: Design, Community and Progressive Preservation.
Richard McCoy, one of the founders of the symposium and exhibition, sees a good reason to include Indianapolis in the conference bearing Columbus’ name — especially since the Indianapolis-based Efroymson Family Fund-Central Indiana Community Foundation provided the $250,000 seed money to launch Exhibit Columbus.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“We’re trying in part to show that these two cities are connected, and have been for a long time,” McCoy said.
The fact that the event will include top architectural firms with major projects nationally and internationally closing the gathering hardly should come as a surprise, according to organizers.
“There are two big reasons why architectural firms participate,” McCoy said. “One is that they love the architecture. And the other is that they love the Columbus story. And it is an amazing story. They clearly know by doing work in Columbus, it will get local and national attention.”
National and international media, from The New York Times to the London-based Monocle magazine, covered last year’s exhibition of temporary installations that attracted an estimated 50,000 people. Organizers estimate that the online and print media attention stretched exponentially beyond that figure.
The city’s architectural legacy was launched with the design and 1942 opening of the first Modern church of its day, First Christian Church.
Exhibit Columbus is a project of Landmark Columbus, which was created in 2015 to care for and celebrate the city’s architectural landmarks. Landmark Columbus is a program of the Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County.
Columbus has been ranked sixth nationally by the American Institute of Architects for architectural innovation and design. The city boasts more than 80 buildings, landscapes, and pieces of public art by internationally noted architects and artists, according to Exhibit Columbus organizers.
Film screening
Longtime Los Angeles on Sept. 27 at a ticketed event at YES Cinema downtown. The son referred to Columbus as “probably the most jam-packed Modernist architectural (small) place in the country.”
This presentation will highlight the full 68-minute work for which the son served as director of photography and also an interview subject. PBS aired an edited, 53-minute version last fall.
“People will see that it’s very different (high-resolution) experience on the big screen,” he said.
Saarinen mentioned that he hopes the local audience will understand his father’s commitment to original ideas and innovative expression.
This presentation will highlight the full 68-minute work for which the son served as director of photography and also an interview subject. PBS aired an edited, 53-minute version last fall.
Miller House
Ben Wever, site manager for The Miller House and Garden, where industrialist and architectural patron J. Irwin and Xenia Miller lived, will be part of a panel discussion exploring the interpretation, adaptation, preservation and use of iconic Modern homes as they age. He saw attendance for Miller House tours rise after last year’s exhibition.
“It reached a new audience, ranging from Exhibit Columbus and the ‘Columbus’ movie (featuring The Miller House) happening around the same time,” Wever said, adding that it boosted attendance.
“Of course, you always will have an audience of designers and others interested in such architecture who have heard of The Miller House. But these other things have helped it become maybe a little more mainstream,” Wever said.
Corporate impact
Mary Chandler, Cummins Inc. vice president of corporate responsibility and chief executive officer of the Cummins Foundation, will be part of an opening-day panel discussion on how corporations can impact design. The Columbus-based foundation’s much-publicized architectural program, aimed to encourage architectural excellence, offers local leaders the option of covering design fees for facilities in Bartholomew County ranging from schools to houses of worship.
Chandler said part of her panel contributions will be how Cummins has carried on the tradition of excellent architecture.
Clearly, she sees the community’s design legacy as a team effort among leaders.
“The city and the county have experienced the benefit to the overall ecosystem of beautiful architecture so that one building doesn’t stand alone as an isolated economic decision,” Chandler said. “But it is contributing to an environment that has been exponentially valuable to the community as a whole.”
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Here are some of the scheduled highlights of the 2018 National Symposium: Design, Community, and Progressive Preservation.
Sept. 26
2 to 5 p.m. — Tours of the newly reinstalled design galleries at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields in Indianapolis, plus an overview of the IMA’s archives for The Miller House.
5 p.m. — Opening reception at Newfields.
6 p.m. — Panel discussion on corporate philanthropy via design, including Mary Chandler, Cummins Inc. vice president of corporate responsibility and chief executive officer of the Cummins Foundation, at Newfields.
Sept. 27
11 a.m. — Panel discussion at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 719 Fifth St., exploring the interpretation, adaptation, preservation and use of iconic Modern homes as they age, including Ben Wever, site manager of The Miller House and Garden in Columbus.
2 p.m. — Eric Saarinen, director of photography for the documentary on his father, "Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future," will show the film and answer questions at YES Cienma, Fourth and Jackson streets in Columbus.
8 p.m. — Party at the Upland Pump House, 148 Lindsey St. in Columbus.
Sept. 28
9 a.m. — Exploring city-wide strategies from the perspective of heritage organizations, planners, developers and designers, including Tracy Souza, president and chief executive officer of The Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County.
Sept. 29
2 p.m. — Panel discussion at The Commons, 300 Washington St., on "Engaging the Next Generation" with speakers including Columbus native Mila Lipinski, an architecture student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
4:30 p.m. — Introducing the five J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize recipients from around the globe, at The Commons.
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Tickets for Bartholomew County residents are available at $100, far lower than the general admission price of $325, available at exhibitcolumbus.org.
Special rates have been created for students at $35 per person.
Registrants must make sure they create their registration account under this attendee type to receive a discount.
Information: exhibitcolumbus.org.
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