"With|Standing"

Episodes
From bustling North Columbus to quiet Kings Mills outside of Cincinnati, from Northeast Ohio’s Cleveland and Oberlin to “The Glass Capital of the World” Toledo, join us as we uncover the stories of Ohioans’ creativity, aspiration and innovation. Built structures across our state — ranging from schools to warehouses to factories — not only reflect our past and present but also point a beacon of hope and new possibility into the future.

About this project
With|Standing is a mini-documentary series and exhibition featuring six architectural sites of transformation and adaptive reuse from across the state of Ohio. Through these sites, we examine how Ohioans are re-imagining the future of our state’s built heritage shaped by the forces of history, industry, migration and more. The title of the series refers to the compound Old English words of wið “against” and standan “to stand.” On the one hand, how do these buildings change “with” the context around them? And on the other hand, what piece of these buildings persevere, “standing” with new meaning through fluxes of function and cultural shifts?

Public Exhibition
Come and see our public exhibition of With|Standing. The exhibition is free and open to all ages. Located in the gallery space in the Main Library with free parking available in the garage off of Adams St. All are welcome to explore the exhibition. Thank you for your support!

Enjoy a preview of the exhibit with these photos and video (from WTOL) from our grand opening and public screening held on October 17, 2025.

This project took nearly two years and the minds and hearts of dozens of people to complete. We hope you enjoy experiencing it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Conceptualization Midstory
Project Lead Ruth Chang
Exhibit Design Ruth Chang
Samuel Chang
Editorial Lead Logan Sander
Production Lead Samuel Chang
Film & Animation Samuel Chang
Dea Kukeli
Evan Blenko
Writing Celia Johnson
Desiree Luo
Janek Schaller
Design & Graphics Ruth Chang
Maps & Data Caixia Cui
Anna DiAsio
Yitong Jiang
Site Research
Isobel Bartels
Brynn Drabek
Quan Harris-Holley
Arjun Jayaraman
Sandra Salib
Rachel Yoon
Preliminary Research Simeon Brown
Caitlin Cooper
Jason Mecchi
Vitus Larrieu
Abigail Rabieh
Annie Wang
Fact Checking Terri Briskey
Web Design Celia Johnson
Alex Lim
Iconography Joshua Repp
Engineering Support Jason Owens
Phillip Mobley

Special thanks to the Toledo Lucas County Public Library for hosting this exhibit.

With|Standing is funded in part by the America 250-Ohio Commission and the Ohio Arts Council. This project is also supported in part by The Arts Commission and the City of Toledo and Lucas County. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the America 250-Ohio Commission, Ohio Arts Council, The Arts Commission, the City of Toledo and Lucas County.