Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the Public by Design book published by the Landmark Columbus Foundation. The book is a comprehensive overview of the 2022-2023 Exhibit Columbus cycle.
Landmark Columbus, alongside several contributors, has a new book available titled “Public by Design.”
This book not only serves as an archive of Exhibit Columbus’ 2022-2023 “Public by Design” cycle, but also serves as a how-to for anyone interested in creating something similar.
According to Landmark Columbus Creative Director Jamie Goldsborough, who also served as an editor, “Public by Design” has been in development for about a year. Rather than coming out alongside the exhibition and giving a basic overview as with traditional exhibition catalogues or Exhibit Columbus’ previous publications, Goldsborough said “Public by Design” documents the cycle’s process and the final result.
“So, what’s amazing about it is that in this one document, you see what happens from the community kick-off, the symposium, the design presentations… and then through to the exhibitions and that includes what it looks like in the summer when they’re building. Even in the summertime, it’s amazing because architects and designers are in town making all of this stuff become real,” Goldsborough said. “So in this book, you get to see that full timeline and understand it in a way that we haven’t made yet in this form, which is (what) makes this book so special.”
The more than 200-page book features write-ups on each exhibition, its contents and backgrounds, in addition to write-ups about the curatorial team and curatorial partners, the various events throughout the cycle and more, all accompanied by color photos by photographer Hadley Fruits. The book also features essays written by event partners and programs of the cycle, such as an essay at the beginning of the book by the cycle’s curatorial advisor James Lima, Goldsborough said.
“We also asked a community member to provide an illustration of how they experienced ‘Public by Design’ and we had a contribution by Annie Shields, she’s an artist based in Columbus who does murals and illustrations and drawings, and she created kind of like a mural for a book about her experience with ‘Public by Design’ and it has this large title ‘Make Art Accessible,’” Goldsborough said.
“Public by Design” also includes a how-to section on working with artists and universities with essays authored by Joanna Woronkowicz and Douglas Noonan of the Center for Cultural Affairs at Indiana University, as well as Brian Blackford with the Indiana Communities Institute at Ball State University. Goldsborough said she thinks the book is like a guide for other communities, art organizations or even community members who are looking to do something similar in their community and how they might approach that.
“I think people should purchase it to really get a deep dive into what Exhibit Columbus is all about as far as an exploration of community, art, architecture and design,” Goldsborough said. “It really tells the full story of what we do in two years and I think anyone can learn something from it.”
