COLUMBUS, INDIANA CALENDAR

The exhibit in Gallery 506 will remain up through August of 2024 – in anticipation of his new book launching next summer in collaboration with writer Matt Shaw.

Donors who contribute $1,000 to this project will receive a print of their choosing, a copy of the book – when published – and donor names will be added to the book. For more information call Guest Services or visit the gift shop.

The photos are not for sale, but there are three different silk screen images of the book cover for sale at $250.

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ABOUT THE SHOW

American Modern Architecture Community
Columbus, Indiana

This book is the first comprehensive look at how architecture, design, and art have been used to foster the growth of one of America’s most important cities, Columbus, Indiana. With a wealth of never-before-seen archival material and nearly 100 first-hand interviews,

American Modern shows for the first time the remarkable story of how local industrialists, most notably the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller family, brought in world-class modern architects to create “the best community of its size in the country.”

Works from Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Venturi Scott Brown Associates, John Johansen, Dan Kiley, and many others, demonstrate that Columbus is a living monument to the progressive ideals of postwar America and President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program of social change for all. The book draws out lessons about how civic leadership and public-private partnerships in the Columbus area played a unique roIe—and can be an example for cities worldwide.

Landmark Columbus Foundation is proud to present this defnitive book, which was inspired by the 2021 Bicentennial Celebrations of Columbus and Bartholomew County. Funding for this project has come from the generous support of Heritage Fund, Lilly Endowment Inc, Johnson Ventures, and the Columbus Area Visitors Center, who also support the production of this exhibition.

The Monacelli Press will publish this book in the spring of 2024.

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Author Matt Shaw – a Columbus native – is a writer, editor, and educator. The former executive editor of The Architect’s Newspaper, his writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Architectural Review, Domus, and Artforum.

The book features newly commissioned photography from Iwan Baan, a photographer whose work focuses on the intersection of architecture and the social fabric and has been published in books and periodicals internationally.

American Modern was designed by Studio Lin, a New York-based graphic design practice established in 2012 by Alex Lin. The studio focuses on long-term collaborations where graphic design can have a meaningful impact locally and internationally.

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MORE ABOUT IWAN BAAN

Dutch photographer Iwan Baan is known primarily for images that narrate the life and interactions that occur within architecture. Born in 1975, Iwan grew up outside Amsterdam, studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and worked in publishing and documentary photography in New York and Europe.

Iwan Baan’s love for photography goes back to his twelfth birthday, when his Grandmother gave him his first camera. After his studies in photography at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, Baan followed his interest in documentary photography, before narrowing his focus to record the various ways in which individuals, communities and societies create, and interact within their built environment.

With his combined passion for documentary and space, Baan’s photographs reveal our innate ability to re-appropriate our available objects and materials, in order to find a place we can call our own. Examples of this can be seen in his work on informal communities where vernacular architecture and placemaking serve as examples of human ingenuity, such as his images of the Torre David in Caracas – a series that won Baan the Golden Lion for Best Installation at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale.

With no formal training in architecture, his perspective mirrors the questions and perspectives of the everyday individuals who give meaning and context to the architecture and spaces that surround us, and this artistic approach has given matters of architecture an approachable and accessible voice.

As the inaugural recipient of the Julius Shulman award for photography, today, architects such as Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron, Zaha Hadid, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, Toyo Ito, SANAA and Morphosis turn to Baan to give their work a sense of place and narrative within their environments. Alongside his architecture commissions, Iwan has collaborated on several successful book projects such as Insular Insight: Where Art and Architecture Conspire with Nature, Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities and Brasilia & Chandigarh – Living With Modernity. Baan’s work also appears on the pages of architecture, design and lifestyle publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Architectural Record, Domus, Abitare and Architectural Digest.

Iwan Baan was named one of the 100 most influential people in contemporary architecture world by the magazine Il Magazine dell’Architettura on occasion of their 100th issue.

Iwan Baan is recipient of the AIA Stephen A. Kliment Oculus Award.

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