Akima Brackeen and Joseph Altshuler participate in Exhibit Columbus biennial 'Yes And'
Assistant Professor Akima Brackeen’s installation Pool/Side opened as part of the fifth cycle of Exhibit Columbus which launched on August 15, 2025. Exhibit Columbus is a biennial of community-oriented architecture, design, and art that activates the modern legacy of Columbus, Indiana, featuring 13 site-specific installations that respond the city’s modern architectural legacy.
Pool/Side is the culmination of Brackeen’s 2024–25 University Design Research Fellowship, a program that awards architectural installation commissions to professors whose work explores community-driven urban design. Brackeen’s installation introduces a shallow pool and purple elevated seating platform just outside the front doors of the Bartholomew County Public Library in downtown Columbus, Indiana. As a social infrastructure for gathering, rest, performance, play, and reflection, Pool/Side seeks to reclaim these spatial typologies through a lens of inclusivity, imagination, and historical acknowledgment.
Assistant Professor Joseph Altshuler served as curatorial partner and developed the biennial’s 2024–25 theme Yes And, alongside co-curators including Illinois School of Architecture alum Mila Lipinski. Altshuler elaborates on the curatorial theme: “Originating in improv theater, Yes And is a technique for affirming and building upon an idea to create a shared narrative. It is a participatory call to work from existing material to shape positive change. Yes And invites everybody to the public spaces of Columbus to expand what forms of togetherness and collaboration are possible.”
Exhibit Columbus is free and open daily to the public and runs through November 30, 2025. All installations are accessible and located outdoors.
Photos by Hadley Fruits for Landmark Columbus Foundation.