Oct 3, 2025
Alexander Calder’s most widely recognized creation is perhaps the mobile. The lauded artist was a titan of Modernism whose desire to “draw” three-dimensional objects spirited the invention of what went on to become both an art historical achievement and a...
Oct 1, 2025
Say you visit a highly anticipated exhibition one Saturday afternoon and find yourself in a crowded gallery, shoulder-to-shoulder with a pack of rabid art goers. As you stealthily maneuver toward your viewing target, an over-stimulated (or, depending on the show,...
Sep 30, 2025
History museums and blackjack tables might not seem to cater to the same audience. But two developers bet that including cultural institutions in their proposals to open new casinos in New York City would entice community leaders to approve their bids. SL Green...
Sep 17, 2025
In 1903, on a farm in southeastern Norway, a once-in-a-lifetime discovery emerged from within a large yet unassuming mound in a field. When the spot was excavated in 1904, the mound revealed an entire Viking longship that had been interred in its entirety as a burial...
Sep 2, 2025
If American museums were the only source of information about Tibetan Buddhist shrines, one would come away with the impression that shrines are elaborate, pristine environments layered with thangka paintings and silken finery amidst rows of statuary and ritual...
Aug 21, 2025
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, we find ourselves at a pivotal crossroads in the national conversation about identity, memory, and who gets to tell our story. This momentous semiquincentennial coincides with the centennial of Negro...
Aug 21, 2025
In a Truth Social tirade on Tuesday, Donald Trump called the Smithsonian Institution, which his administration has sought to reshape to favor so-called American exceptionalism, “out of control.” The museum and research network, he said, focuses too heavily on “how bad...
Jul 29, 2025
Artist and filmmaker Jessica Oreck cultivates what she calls “a collection of collections.” From tiny glass eggs to lone toy shoes to colorful beads and dominoes, the Office of Collecting & Design contains thousands of minuscule objects that Oreck has...
Apr 30, 2025
Even though analogue photography has always played with manipulation and fiction, it was perceived as a technology that represented accurately what was in front of the lens at a specific moment. Once printed, the images were regarded as traces of something that exists...