Exhibit Columbus is an exploration of community, architecture, art, and design that activates the modern legacy of Columbus, Indiana.
2026 Fieldwork
In 2026, Exhibit Columbus marks its tenth year with Fieldwork: a season of deliberate, grounded work that reflects on a decade of design, community engagement, and public impact.
Fieldwork focuses on three areas that strengthen the foundation for everything that comes next: stewardship, research, and inquiry.
Stewardship
Over ten years, Exhibit Columbus has commissioned installations that have become part of the city's evolving civic landscape. Today, that legacy includes five permanent works in downtown Columbus, along with numerous installations that have been reinstalled across the city and throughout Indiana.
Fieldwork supports the ongoing care, documentation, and interpretation of these projects. These acts of stewardship demonstrate the long-term commitment required to transform temporary exhibitions into lasting civic infrastructure.
Research
Fieldwork is also a year of reflection and assessment. Through the collection and analysis of ten years of participant, visitor, and community data, Exhibit Columbus is examining the impact of the program across its first decade.
This research will contribute to a comprehensive digital archive that preserves the full record of every cycle, creating a resource for future participants, researchers, designers, and communities interested in the role of design in public life.
Inquiry
What has a decade of Exhibit Columbus revealed about design excellence and its role in civic life?
Fieldwork creates space to explore that question. Drawing from ten years of projects, partnerships, and public engagement, Exhibit Columbus will examine what it has learned about design excellence as a civic practice and share those insights with practitioners, educators, civic leaders, and communities across Indiana and the country.
Through public programs, conversations, publications, and special events, including the inaugural Civic Design Institutes' Prove It Summit, these lessons will help inform the future of the program while contributing to broader conversations about design, community, and quality of place.
Fieldwork is not a pause between cycles. It is the work that makes the next cycle possible and will make it even more impactful.
Following Fieldwork 2026, the next Exhibit Columbus cycle will begin in spring 2027.