Exhibitions

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View news releases below or see all of our publicly released upcoming exhibitions.

Glass chandelier made to look like hanging meat

Deborah Czeresko, Meat Chandelier, 2018, blown glass, metal armature, 96.06"H x 59.84"W x 59.84"D, The Corning Museum of Glass, 2019.4.165; Photo by The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York.

Smithsonian American Art Museum Presents a Global Survey of Contemporary Glass Art at Its Renwick Gallery
“New Glass Now” Challenges Traditional Conceptions of Glass and Introduces New Perspectives
10.06.2021
American Art Museum Exhibitions
Rendering of museum exhibit
Smithsonian’s New “FUTURES” Will Blast Through the Space-Time Continuum To Open Saturday, Nov. 20
First Major Exploration of the Future on the National Mall To Launch With ‘FUTURES Remixed’ Festival, Featuring Bill Nye, Pattie Gonia, SHAED, HBO Max’s “Legendary,” Kal Penn and More
10.05.2021
Arts and Industries Exhibitions
National Museum of African American History and Culture
National Museum of African American History and Culture Connects Past, Present and Future Through “Living History” on Fifth Anniversary
New Exhibition “Make Good the Promises: Reconstruction and Its Legacies” Now Open
09.24.2021
African American Museum Exhibitions
Photo of family in front of house

Family on plantation near Savannah, Georgia, late 1800s. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
 

National Museum of African American History and Culture Opens New Exhibition “Make Good the Promises: Reconstruction and Its Legacies”
Spotlight Is on African American Visions of Freedom and Unmet Promises Following the Civil War. Exhibition Also Explores the Contemporary Legacies of Reconstruction, Racial Profiling, and Voter Suppression Through Items From the Families of Trayvon Martin
09.22.2021
African American Museum Exhibitions
Painting of a woman holding a book

John Singer Sargent, A Venetian Woman, 1882, oil on canvas, Cincinnati Art Museum, The Edwin and Virginia Irwin Memorial, 1972.37.

New Exhibition Examines Cultural Exchange Between American Artists and Venetian Glassmakers During the Late 19th Century
“Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano” Opens at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Oct. 8
09.20.2021
American Art Museum Exhibitions
Rendering of air taxi
Smithsonian To Reveal the Bell Nexus ‘Air Taxi’ at “FUTURES”
Autonomous Electric Concept Vehicle Will Be Making Its Museum Debut at the Arts and Industries Building in November, Alongside Iconic 1960s Bell Jetpack
09.20.2021
Arts and Industries Exhibitions
Portrait of Breonna Taylor

Portrait of Breonna Taylor on loan from Amy Sherald. On loan from Amy Shetland, (c) Amy Sherald.

Breonna Taylor Portrait Featured in New Exhibition at National Museum of African American History and Culture
“Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.” Exhibition Uses Art To Explore the Black Lives Matter Movement, Social Protests and the Struggle for Equality and Freedom
09.10.2021
African American Museum Exhibitions
Person interacts with augmented reality version of an orca

Credit: Andrew Harrington and Joshua Downs, Formative Co. 

New Augmented-Reality Experience Spotlights Human Connection to the Oceans
“Critical Distance” Will Open Sept. 29
09.08.2021
Natural History Museum Exhibitions
Malcom X

Credit: “Malcolm X” by an unidentified photographer, halftone poster, 1967, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery Presents “Block by Block: Naming Washington”
Exhibition Explores the People Represented by Washington, D.C.’s Streets and Public Spaces
09.07.2021
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions
Sign with bullet holes
Smithsonian To Display Emmett Till Historical Marker
National Museum of American History Addresses Anti-Black Violence Through Defaced Sign
08.27.2021
American History Museum Exhibitions
National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall
National Museum of African American History and Culture Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
08.25.2021
African American Museum Exhibitions Public Programs
Woman performs artwork outdoors

Laurie Anderson in the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., June 2021. Photo by Allysa Lisbon. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Hirshhorn To Present Groundbreaking Artist Laurie Anderson’s Largest US Exhibition to Date
“Laurie Anderson: The Weather” Presents Pioneering, Large-Scale Multimedia Works From 1970s to Present, Opening Sept. 24
08.13.2021
Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
Two posters side by side

Images: Poster, Soaring to Success! Daily Herald—the Early Bird, 1919; Designed by E. McKnight Kauffer (American, 1890–1954); Lithograph; Published by Daily Herald (London, England); Printed by T. B. Lawrence Ltd. (London, England); Courtesy of William W. Crouse. Poster, Power, The Nerve Centre of London’s Underground, 1930, printed 1931; Designed by E. McKnight Kauffer (American, 1890–1954); Published by Transport for London (London, England); Printed by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son (London, England); Lithograph; 101.6 × 61.4 cm (40 × 24 3/16 in.); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of Mrs. E. McKnight Kauffer, 1963-39-45; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution.

Cooper Hewitt to Present Largest-Ever Retrospective on Graphic Design Pioneer E. McKnight Kauffer
"Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer" on View Sept. 10 to April 10, 2022
08.11.2021
Cooper Hewitt Exhibitions
Woman sites looking at camera beside image of her artwork

Images (left–right): Portrait of Toyin Ojih Odutola, photo by Beth Wilkinson, © Toyin Ojih Odutola, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Toyin Ojih Odutola, “Imitation Lesson; Her Shadowed Influence” from “A Countervailing Theory” (2019), © Toyin Ojih Odutola, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Hirshhorn To Present North American Premiere of “Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory”
Opening Nov. 19, Presentation Marks the Artist’s First Major Museum Exhibition in the US
08.05.2021
Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
Group of people marching

Protesters march down Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE during the 2017 Grocery Walk to demand greater investment in food access programs and healthy food retail options. To highlight the lack of grocery options in Wards 7 and 8, over 500 people marched the two-mile journey between Historic Anacostia and Ward 8’s only grocery store. Credit: Brian Oh/Courtesy of DC Greens

Anacostia Community Museum Reopens Aug. 6
In-gallery Exhibition “Food for the People: Eating & Activism in Greater Washington” Is Featured
08.04.2021
Anacostia Community Museum Exhibitions
Architectural detail of Hirshhorn Museum building
Hirshhorn To Wrap Its Building With New Site-Specific Public Artwork by Nicolas Party
Artist’s Largest Work to Date, “Draw the Curtain,” Will Debut on the National Mall Sept. 18 While Building’s Envelope Undergoes Repairs
07.22.2021
Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
Sculpture of man sitting on a camel

Inland Niger Delta artist; Djenné, Mopti Region, Mali; Equestrian Figure; 13th-15th century C.E.; Ceramic; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, museum purchase, 86-12-2; Photograph by Franko Khoury.

National Museum of African Art To Reopen July 16
New Exhibition “Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time” Now Extended to February 2022
07.09.2021
African Art Museum Exhibitions
Baseball player swinging a baseball bat at a game

Roberto Clemente, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, around 1967. Courtesy of The Clemente Museum

“¡Pleibol!” Slides Into Smithsonian Summer 2021
Exhibition Explores Latina/o Impact Through Baseball Artifacts, Stories and Photos
06.29.2021
American History Museum Exhibitions
Freer Gallery north entrance
Hokusai’s Breathtaking and Rarely Seen Wave Painting Will Go on View When the Freer Gallery of Art Reopens July 16
06.29.2021
Asian Art Museum Exhibitions
Gold ornament on a stand

The “Echenique Disc,” a pre-Inka gold ornament recognized as the symbol of the city of Cusco. Photo: National Museum of the American Indian

National Museum of the American Indian and the Government of the Republic of Peru Sign a Memorandum of Understanding To Return the “Echenique Disc” to Peru
Indigenous Populations Centered Around the Sacred Valley of Cusco Support the Return
06.15.2021
American Indian Museum Exhibitions
Collage of portraits and artwork
Smithsonian “FUTURES” To Unveil Five New Commissions by Leading Contemporary Artists
Visitors Can See Alternate Future Worlds as Imagined by Beatriz Cortez, Nettrice Gaskins, Soo Sunny Park, Devan Shimoyama, and Tamiko Thiel and /p in Their Smithsonian Debuts
06.15.2021
Arts and Industries Exhibitions
Hallway leading into a museum exhibit

Picturing Women Inventors is presented in both English and Spanish. © Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center Spotlights Women Inventors in New Bilingual Display and Poster Show
Exhibition Reflects the Central Tenet of the Lemelson Center: Everyone Is Inventive
05.25.2021
American History Museum Exhibitions
Painting resembling identification card

“Resident Alien” by Hung Liu, oil on canvas, 1988. Collection of the San Jose Museum of Art; gift of the Lipman Family Foundation. Copyright Hung Liu.

National Portrait Gallery Presents “Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands”
Chinese-born American Artist’s First Retrospective of Portraiture To Be on View Aug. 27– May 30, 2022
05.25.2021
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions
Building exterior
National Museum of American History Reopens to the Public May 21
New Artifacts On View Include Bob Ross Objects and “Crazy Rich Asians” Gown Spotlight on Women’s History Exhibitions: “Girlhood (It’s Complicated)” and “Picturing Women Inventors”
05.21.2021
American History Museum Exhibitions

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