Calling all art and design lovers: This summer is ripe with exhibitions highlighting your favorite things. Exploring everything from standout education projects to Navajo textiles to LEGO-based recreations of iconic buildings, these 10 shows at home and overseas showcase creativity at its finest. Museum day, anyone?
AT HOME
Haimaz, Heimr, Hjem, Heem, Hām, Home
Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City
There are a million ways to build a house, and even more to build a home. This UMOCA exhibit examines the idea of “home” as both a feeling and a physical space, as inspired by the Old English word “hām,” which translates to “a place where many souls are gathered.” The photographs, sculptures, videos, collages, and blueprints on display also address present-day housing issues such as gentrification, inaccessibility, and sustainability. On view through July 15. [Utah Museum of Contemporary Art]
The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore
This SmithGroup-designed exhibition explores the global impact of hip hop from the early 2000s to now. The Culture features more than 90 works of art from creators such as Virgil Abloh, Kendrick Lamar, and Jean-Michel Basquiat through the mediums of sculpture, fashion, video, and more. The exhibition is one of the latest projects from the SmithGroup’s Cultural practice, which creates design schemes for museums and cultural institutions around the world. On view through July 16. [Baltimore Museum of Art]
Phillip K. Smith III: Three Parallels
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Three Parallels is the seventh installment of SMoCA’s Architecture + Art series, which charges both architects and artists with creating site-specific installations for the museum. Phillip K. Smith III, an artist and trained architect, creates geometric, sculptural installations that play with light and color to reflect their surroundings. His SMoCA entry, Three Parallels, is an immersive homage to the Light and Space movement of the 1960s that washes viewers in color as they move throughout the installation. On view through Aug. 6. [Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art]
CAMPUS AULA: Educational Architecture in Latin America
Center for Architecture, New York
The Center for Architecture’s latest exhibition, CAMPUS AULA, spotlights nine innovative higher-education projects throughout Latin America. (“Aula” is Spanish for classroom.) Curated by the Chilean architectural organization CONSTRUCTO, the free-flowing campuses—located in Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, and Peru—spectacularly contrast the orderly university towns popularized by the 20th-century Modernist movement. Also on display: a photo series of historical university projects taken by Brazilian photographer Leonardo Finotti. On view through Sept. 2. [Center for Architecture]
Brick City
National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.
The Colosseum. The Sydney Opera House. The Empire State Building. All of these iconic structures and more are replicated in intricate, LEGO-brick miniature at the National Building Museum this summer. The reconstructions, done by U.K.–based artist Warren Elsmore, celebrate both the world’s greatest feats of architecture and the creative power of LEGOs. Visitors can build their own digital and physical LEGO creations through interactive areas throughout the exhibit. On view through spring 2025. [National Building Museum]
Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest
Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York
The Southwest has a rich history of craft and design, largely thanks to its native settlers. This exhibition of Navajo craft pairs rarely seen historical blankets, garments, and rugs from the American Museum of Natural History's collection with contemporary works from Navajo artists to illustrate the region's Indigenous legacy of weaving and design. Plus: If you can't make it in person, an online exhibition is available to view for a limited time with a catalogue of approximately 250 works from the AMNH collection. On view through July 9. [Bard Graduate Center Gallery]
ABROAD
File Under: Law and Policy
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal
Architects and builders have to navigate a world of red tape before a project can even get off the ground. File Under: Law and Policy highlights the zoning codes, building regulations, and environmental legislation that help these projects come to be. The exhibition utilizes materials from the Canadian Center for Architecture’s archives to demonstrate how architects marry creative vision with legal frameworks in order to create lasting works of art. On view through Nov. 26. [Canadian Centre for Architecture]
The Paris of Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923)
Cité Architecture & Patrimoine, Paris
This centennial exhibition reflects on the life and work of famed Eiffel Tower designer and civil engineer Gustave Eiffel. Beyond the Tower, Eiffel’s famous creations include the rotating dome of the Nice Observatory and the massive Garabit Viaduct, a railway bridge crossing the Truyère river. The Paris of Gustave Eiffel displays models, photographs, archival prints, and more to evoke Paris at the height of Eiffel’s career and fête his contributions to the great technological advancements of the time. On view July 26–Jan. 8, 2024. [Cité Architecture & Patrimoine]
Jenny Nordberg: Strategies for Moving Freely
Design Museum, Helsinki
Helsinki Design Week kicks off with this exhibition dedicated to Swedish designer Jenny Nordberg at the Design Museum in central Helsinki. Nordberg’s work skews decidedly quirky (think: a candleholder constructed from a mold of a frozen bologna sandwich), and this collection of her recent creations pays tribute to her humorous approach to design while also incorporating her perspective on the dangers of overproduction. On view Sept. 9–Dec. 31. [Design Museum]
Architetture a Regola d’Arte
Museo MAXXI, Rome
Art and architecture are inextricably—and beautifully—intertwined. This exhibition at Rome’s MAXXI museum showcases influential 20th-century Italian architects whose work lived at the intersection of the two. This display of archival photographs, project documents, correspondences, and more from MAXXI’s collections shed light on the creative philosophies and processes of great minds Costantino Dardi, Amedeo Luccichenti, Vincenzo Monaco, Luigi Moretti, and BBPR Studio. On view through Oct. 15. [Museo MAXXI]
