175th Anniversary: New Smithsonian FUTURES Immersive Exhibit: a vast array of interactives, artworks, technologies, and ideas that are glimpses into humanity’s next chapter

Get Ready For its 175th anniversary, the Smithsonian is looking forward.

Part exhibition, part festival, FUTURES presents 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 23 of the Smithsonian’s museums, major initiatives, and research centers. Of the nearly 150 objects on view, several are making their public debut: an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven rover from Alphabet’s X that could transform agriculture; a Planetary Society space sail for deep space travel; a Loon internet balloon; the first full-scale Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome built in North America; the world’s first controlled futures_socialthermonuclear fusion device; and more.

What do you think of when you think of the future? FUTURES is the first building-wide exploration of the future on the National Mall. Designed by the award-winning Rockwell Group, FUTURES spans 32,000 square feet inside the Arts + Industries Building. Now on view until July 6, 2022, FUTURES is your guide to a vast array of interactives, artworks, technologies, and ideas that are glimpses into humanity’s next chapter. You are, after all, only the latest in a long line of future makers.

Smell a molecule. Clean your clothes in a wetland. Meditate with an AI robot. Travel through space and time. Watch water being harvested from air. Become an emoji. The FUTURES is yours to decide, debate, delight. We invite you to dream big, and imagine not just one future, but many possible futures on the horizon—playful, sustainable, inclusive. In moments of great change, we dare to be hopeful. How will you create the future you want to live in? 

 

Members: Connect, learn more, be inspired, and hopefully visit this amazing exhibit!

 

When:

12:00PM Sat 20 Nov 2021 - 5:00PM Wed 6 Jul 2022, Eastern timezone

Where:

Arts and Industries Building
900 Jefferson Drive, SW
Washington, DC 20560 USA

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