Outpost Office

Led by Ashley Bigham and Erik Herrmann, assistant professors at Ohio State’s Knowlton School, Outpost Office designs installations, events, and buildings that challenge architecture’s tendencies toward permanence and accumulation. They do so by embracing an impermanent, open-ended, and responsive practice. In that spirit, their Wexner Center–commissioned work unfolds in several phases.

Beginning in late August 2023, the first phase includes the large-scale project Drawing Fields No. 7. A GPS-controlled robot will paint yellow and lavender curvilinear patterns on the tree-lined Wex plaza lawn. Part of an ongoing series, the project employs techniques of algorithmic creativity. A playful entry to campus, the drawing provides a respite to the rigorous geometry of the nearby Wexner Center, weaving vibrant threads of color to activate the grove with loose wefts and warps. Inherently ephemeral, the patterns disappear over several weeks with growth, rain, and sun.

In November 2023, Outpost Office will add a subsequent installation, Color Block No. 2. This large-scale, modular furniture activates various in-between spaces both inside and outside the Wexner Center. People are encouraged to interact with the pieces, rather than simply viewing them, changing the dynamic usually experienced in a gallery or museum. The installation challenges both conceptual and physical institutional boundaries. Museum architecture often imposes divisions between gallery spaces and public areas. This division is blurred in the Wexner Center’s building. Exhibition spaces and architectural features converge, making the Wexner Center a milestone in postmodern architecture. New spaces created by Color Block No. 2 extend these characteristics. These spaces for collaboration, socializing, and informal learning draw visitors’ attention from the building’s exterior to its interior.