Exhibitions

Newsroom of the Smithsonian

View news releases below or see all of our publicly released upcoming 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
"Critical Distance" video

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host a new, free experience emphasizing the intrinsic connection between people, orcas and the ocean.

Download (160.96 MB)
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
"Critical Distance" Hall video

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host a new, free experience called “Critical Distance” emphasizing the intrinsic connection between people, orcas and the ocean.

Download (187.85 MB)
Rendering of people in a museum exhibit
Vision3
"Critical Distance" Hall

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host a new, free experience called “Critical Distance” emphasizing the intrinsic connection between people, orcas and the ocean.

Download (3.82 MB)
Rendering of museum exhibit with visitors
Vision3
"Critical Distance" Hall

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host a new, free experience called “Critical Distance” emphasizing the intrinsic connection between people, orcas and the ocean.

Download (1.07 MB)
People watch video screen displaying an orca illustration
Andrew Harrington
"Critical Distance"

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host a new, free experience emphasizing the intrinsic connection between people, orcas and the ocean.

Download (8.76 MB)
People interacted with augmented reality version of an orca
Andrew Harrington and Joshua Downs, Formative Co.
"Critical Distance" augmented reality

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host a new, free experience emphasizing the intrinsic connection between people, orcas and the ocean.

Download (201.24 KB)
Person interacting with augmented reality of an orca
Andrew Harrington and Joshua Downs, Formative Co.
"Critical Distance" augmented reality

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host a new, free experience emphasizing the intrinsic connection between people, orcas and the ocean.

Download (172.9 KB)
People interacting with augmented reality version of an orca
Andrew Harrington and Joshua Downs, Formative Co.
"Critical Distance" augmented reality

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host a new, free experience emphasizing the intrinsic connection between people, orcas and the ocean.

Download (178.14 KB)
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
Photograph by Brian Oh, Courtesy of DC Greens
Food for the People: 2017 Grocery Walk

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.

Download (1.1 MB)
Group photo
Special Collections Research Center, The George Washington University Library
Food for the People Exhibit: Community for Creative Non-Violence

In the 1970s and ‘80s, Mitch Snyder (center) and fellow members of the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) ran free health clinics, soup kitchens, and shelter housing in DC.

Download (1.03 MB)
Two women with bags of food
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Stephen Shames
Food for the People Exhibit: Free Food Program

The Black Panther Party operated a Breakfast for Children Program and Free Food Program in cities across the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including in Washington, DC. Addressing rampant food insecurity in these communities, the Panther programs also helped ex

Download (2.64 MB)
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
Boycott in field
Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University
Food for the People Exhibit: United Farm Workers

In 1965, Filipino, Chicano, Black, and white farmworkers in California joined together to form the United Farm Workers (UFW). The new union organized to demand better working conditions and a minimum wage.

Download (1.22 MB)

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