Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Suspended Animation

The exhibition brings together six artists who use computer animation in their work: Ed Atkins, Antoine Catala, Ian Cheng, Josh Kline, Helen Marten and Agnieszka Polska.

February 10, 2016 – March 26, 2017

Hirshhorn Museum

Everyone Plays!

An explosion of innovation and creativity has led to technological advancements in adaptive sports equipment, allowing disabled athletes to participate in a wide range of sports.

October 1, 2016 – March 26, 2017

American History Museum

Mending Broken Hearts: Innovation Inside the Body

Developing a successful mechanical heart valve involved years of experimentation by a small team of doctors after World War II.

September 23, 2016 – March 26, 2017

American History Museum

Access! Everyone! Everywhere! Elaine Ostroff and the Universal Design Movement

A pioneer of this movement was Massachusetts educator Elaine Ostroff who has advocated on behalf of people with disabilities throughout her career. Her work has improved the lives of people with disabilities and the general population as well.

December 1, 2016 – March 23, 2017

American History Museum

Expanding the Legacy: New Collections on African American Art

The Archives of American Art presents selections from recently acquired collections highlighting the cultural contributions and the personal stories of African Americans in the art world.

September 23, 2016 – March 21, 2017

Archives of American Art

Isamu Noguchi, Archaic/Modern

Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was among the most innovative American sculptors of the twentieth century, creating works that were far ahead of his time. The exhibition is the first full-scale exhibition to explore how the ancient world shaped this artist’s innovative vision for the future.

November 11, 2016 – March 19, 2017

American Art Museum

Art Pottery and Glass in America, 1880s-1920s

The Arts and Crafts movement in America took hold just as the rising middle class began to realize its potential to purchase more consumer goods. Among the manufacturers featured are the Steuben Glass Works, Phoenix Glass Company, Rookwood Pottery, Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, Biloxi Art Pottery, Paul Revere Pottery, and Matt Morgan Art Pottery.

September 25, 2015 – March 12, 2017

American History Museum

Energizing the Everyday: Gifts from the George R. Kravis II Collection

From radios to furniture, the exhibition displays some of the most influential objects in the history of modernism, alongside contextual works drawn from the museum’s collection.

April 28, 2016 – March 12, 2017

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Artworks by African Americans from the Collection

In celebration of the 2016 Grand Opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, SAAM will displays 184 of its most important artworks by African Americans.

September 1, 2016 – February 28, 2017

American Art Museum

By the People: Designing a Better America

The third exhibition of Cooper Hewitt’s humanitarian design series will examine how design is challenging social and economic inequality across America.

September 30, 2016 – February 26, 2017

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

America's Presidents

America’s Presidents showcases an enhanced and extended display of multiple images of the past presidents of the United States.

July 1, 2006 – February 26, 2017

Portrait Gallery

Inauguration 2017: Donald J. Trump

The photograph, taken in 1989 by photographer Michael O’Brien, shows Trump tossing an apple with his right hand. It was added to the collection in 2011.

January 13, 2017 – February 26, 2017

Portrait Gallery

Fantastic Worlds: Science and Fiction, 1780-1910

Travel with us to the fantastic worlds of fiction inspired by 19th-century discovery and invention.

July 1, 2015 – February 26, 2017

American History Museum

In the Groove: Jazz Portraits by Herman Leonard

This exhibition from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery features Leonard’s iconic images of jazz legends such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, and Sarah Vaughan.

August 5, 2016 – February 20, 2017

Portrait Gallery

The Art of the Qur'an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts

Almost seventy sumptuous manuscripts are featured in The Art of the Qur’an, the first major presentation of Qur’ans in the United States.

October 22, 2016 – February 20, 2017

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Red: Ming Dynasty/Mark Rothko

Created more than five centuries apart, an imperial Chinese porcelain dish and a painting by Mark Rothko—unexpectedly brought together in visual dialogue—reveal the immensity of the color red.

September 3, 2016 – February 20, 2017

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Notes from the Desert: Photographs by Gauri Gill

Since the late 1990s, Gauri Gill has been photographing marginalized communities in western Rajasthan, India. Featuring nearly sixty of her prints, this exhibition showcases Gill's work in the remote desert region.

September 17, 2016 – February 12, 2017

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Model of the National Museum of African American History and Culture

The architectural design model submitted by Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroupJJR to the Museum design competition in 2011 is on view.

September 16, 2016 – January 31, 2017

Smithsonian Castle

Emeka Ogboh's Market Symphony

Nigerian artist Emeka Ogboh brings his internationally recognized sound art to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in the new work Market Symphony.

February 3, 2016 – January 31, 2017

African Art Museum

The Norie Atlas and the Guano Trade

This display will highlight John Norie's unique Marine Atlas, a large bound book of sea charts dating to the early 19th century, within the historical context of the guano and nitrate trades, in which many of the swiftest and strongest American square-rigged sailing ships were employed.

February 17, 2016 – January 29, 2017

American History Museum

Muppets and Puppets

In time for the winter holidays, this showcase presents a selection of Muppets and marionetts from the museum’s collection illustrating the evolution of puppetry.

November 23, 2016 – January 22, 2017

American History Museum

Toys and Childhood

This showcase presents a selection of cast-iron and tinplate toys from the museum’s collection dating from the 1870s to the 1950s, illustrating the ever-evolving nature of American childhood and home life and bringing to light aspects of play.

November 20, 2015 – January 22, 2017

American History Museum

Laughing Matters

Artifacts from two famous comediennes—Carol Burnett and Phyllis Diller—and Miss Piggy herself take center stage in a display that examines how comedy can express contemporary concerns.

July 22, 2016 – January 22, 2017

American History Museum

Fragile Beasts

Fragile Beasts features nearly 75 ornament prints and drawings from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The exhibition highlights rarely seen works on paper from Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection, as well as several books from Cooper Hewitt’s rare book collection.

June 11, 2016 – January 16, 2017

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Visions and Revisions: Renwick Invitational 2016

The seventh installment of the Renwick Gallery's biennial series celebrates artists deserving of wider national recognition presents the work of Steven Young Lee, Kristen Morgin, Jennifer Trask, and Norwood Viviano.

September 9, 2016 – January 16, 2017

Renwick Gallery