February 23, 2021
Smithsonian To Debut Groundbreaking New ‘FUTURES’ for 175th Anniversary
Historic Arts + Industries Building To Temporarily Reopen for First Time in Nearly Two Decades With Smithsonian’s First Large-Scale Exploration of the Future
Step inside one of the oldest buildings on the National Mall-and glimpse what comes next.
The historic Arts+ Industries Building (AIB). America’s first National Museum, will temporarily reopen this November for the first time in nearly two decades for the debut exhibition FUTURES, the Smithsonian’s first major building-wide exploration of the future. This groundbreaking new museum experience will fuse awe-inspiring art, technology, design, and history, inviting visitors to dream big and imagine not just one but many possible futures on the horizon. FUTURES will be free and open to time-travelers everywhere through July 2022.
A centerpiece of the Smithsonian’s landmark 175th anniversary year, FUTURES will spotlight the Institution’s historic role as an engine of the future. Since 1846, the Smithsonian’s mission for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge” has led to remarkable leaps-exploring the beginnings of the universe, saving species from extinction, preserving the full diversity of human culture and bringing new methods of digital learning to billions around the globe.
Part exhibition, part festival, FUTURES will present nearly 32,000 square feet of new immersive site-specific art installations, interactives, working experiments, inventions, speculative designs and “artifacts of the future,” as well as historic objects and discoveries from 23of the Smithsonian’s museums, major initiatives and research centers. Of the nearly 150 objects on view, several are making their public debut: a Loon internet balloon, an AI-driven rover from Alphabet’s X that could transform agriculture, a Planetary Society space sail for deep space travel, the first full-scale Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome built in North America, the world’s first controlled nuclear fusion machine, and more.
FUTURES will also debut a series of new art commissions and a selection of large-scale technology projects, to be unveiled throughout 2021. Each offers visitors a chance to encounter emerging trends in human creativity and connection that are actively transforming the world—from artworks based on intelligent technology, to new ways to design cities, to hyper-fast travel and air taxis. A cutting-edge mobile experience by award-winning firm Goodby Silverstein & Partners and a national film project will also be announced in the coming months.
Brought to life by David Rockwell and his award-winning architecture and design firm Rockwell Group, FUTURES will unfold across four unique environments, one in each of AIB’s four monumental halls: Past Futures, Futures that Inspire, Futures that Unite, and Futures that Work. Rather than attempt prediction, these alternate ways of thinking about the future emphasize that there are many possible futures, which will be determined by our individual and collective decisions. Rockwell Group’s dynamic exhibition pavilions reinforce each hall’s theme and will double as an experiment in sustainable building design, using unconventional materials such as mushroom mycelium bricks, solar cells and recycled and recyclable resin and metal. The LAB, Rockwell Group’s design innovation studio, is developing a digital ecosystem to enhance the visitor experience.
Audiences are encouraged to expect the unexpected. In Past Futures, discover an experimental Alexander Graham Bell telephone, the Bakelizer—a machine used at the birth of synthetic plastics, early androids and barrier-breaking rockets, and activist art and ephemera created by groups striving to change the course of their own futures. In Futures that Inspire, encounter worldbuilding Afrofuturist artists, artificial intelligence that helps you meditate, and Indigenous storytelling for the 21st century. In Futures that Unite, visit a COVID-friendly support robot that reduces loneliness, a video game you can play with your eyes, and biohacked insulin. And in Futures that Work, experience future foods, a spacesuit that fits like a second skin, a working water harvester pulling liquid from air, an algae bioreactor that cleans as much air as a 400-acre forest, and much more.
FUTURES will also showcase stories of future-makers: inventors and creators, activists and organizers of communities at the margins, working tirelessly towards a more equitable, peaceful, and sustainable world. Instead of simply asking what kind of future we want to live in, audiences will be challenged to consider their role in shaping it—glimpsing how the visions of previous generations have shaped where we are today as they choose their own version of humanity’s next chapter.
“In a world that feels perpetually tumultuous, there is power in imagining the future we want, not the future we fear,” said Rachel Goslins, director of the Arts + Industries Building. “For 175 years, the Smithsonian has been helping people better understand who we are, where we have been, and where we want to go. With FUTURES, we want to invite all visitors to discover, debate, and delight in the many possibilities for our shared future. There’s no place better to do this than in the Arts + Industries Building, the nation’s original home for big ideas.”
FUTURES is curated by a multi-disciplinary team of collaborators with broad expertise: Dr. Glenn Adamson (history of the future), Ian Brunswick (science consulting curator), Brad MacDonald (creative digital media), Ashley Molese (FUTURES and contemporary art), Monica O. Montgomery (programming and social justice), and Dr. Richard Kurin (Smithsonian history consulting curator), with the support of the wider Smithsonian community of experts and outside advisors.
It is made possible by a select group of partners and supporters: Autodesk, Amazon Web Services, BellTextron Inc., Jacqueline B. Mars, John and Adrienne Mars, the Embassy of the State of Qatar, David M. Rubenstein and SoftBank Group Corp. Major support is provided by the Annenberg Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Kevin S. Bright and Robert Kogod. Funding is also provided by John Brock III, Wendy Dayton, Nancy Hogan, David G. Johnson, and the Lyda Hill Foundation.Additional support is provided by Vin Di Bona, Jorge Puente and Ivan Selin.
Major partners and lenders also include The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture, Arizona State University’s Center for Science and Imagination, Danae, Inc. 3D Printing, Dava Newman and MIT AeroAstro, Ecovative, Games for Change, Hypergiant, The Institute for the Future, Loon, Never Alone/E-Line Media, Novalia, Oceanix/BIG Bjarke Ingels Group,Open Insulin and the Baltimore Underground Science Space, Planetary Society, Q the Genderless Voice/VICE Media, Rockwell Group and the LAB at Rockwell Group, Roomie Robotics, SpecialEffect, Twitch, Virgin Hyperloop, Waha—Water Harvester Inc, Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and X -The Moonshot Factory.
Artists and creators currently slated to be featured include Madeline Ashby, Raoul Bretzel and Anna Citelli, Tega Brain, Stephanie Dinkins, Nettrice Gaskins, Alexandra Genis, Emanuel Gollob, Porfirio Gutierrez, Ai Hasegawa, Brian Miller, Tochi Onyebuchi, Elisa Palomino, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Stacey Robinson, Stephanie Syjuco and Jeffrey Veregge. Additional site-specific commissions will be announced later in 2021.
For more information, the public can visit aib.si.edu
About the Arts + Industries Building
The Arts + Industries Building (AIB) opened in 1881 as the country’s first National Museum, an architectural icon in the heart of the National Mall. Its soaring halls introduced millions of Americans to wonders about to change the world –Edison’s lightbulb, the first telephone, Apollo rockets. Dubbed the “Palace of Wonders” and “Mother of Museums,” AIB incubated new Smithsonian museums for over 120 years before finally closing to the public in 2004. FUTURES is a milestone first step in the long-term plan to renovate and permanently reopen this landmark space.
Open dates: November 2021–July 2022
Admission: FREE
Virtual FUTURES: An interactive mobile FUTURES guide will launch late summer 2021 in advance of the exhibition opening—a cutting edge invitation to explore the FUTURES anytime, anywhere with your future self as your guide. To be announced.
Special events and programs: Expect a full slate of dynamic, future-forward performances, pop-ups, virtual events, workshops and late-night experiences. To be announced.
Media contact: Allison Peck, pecka@si.edu, 202.633.5198; Kate Morais, aib@suttoncomms.com, 917.826.9102
Images: Link to Dropbox